Poem: Jasmines

Yesterday
in Cairo
the jasmines wilted

The streets
lined with blossoms
trampled beneath
unflinching boots

The breeze
robbed of its perfume;
now reeking of
cold metal

But
above the torrent
of bullets striking flesh,
splattering blood

I heard a child,
forlorn,
begging the jasmine shrubs
to flower again.

---

I may not understand politics and civil wars, but I do know what 'massacre' means and that its meaning is universal, not just confined to the borders of Egypt.

Inspired by my cousin Nazreen's poem Today I Woke Up in Syria, one of my all-time favourites on account of its heart-wrenching imagery.

Poem: Double-Faced

Double-faced.

For you,

that’s all I am

now.

You see

omens of betrayal

in a cheery hello

hear

undertones of scorn

in the most carefree of laughs

call

every word of mine

sugar-coated poison

and proclaim to the world

that I’m not what they see;

“She has two faces!”

when

you have never seen my face

drenched in despair,

reddening

in the middle of a rant,

Arctic-frigid

or torrid as the tropics,

or even lost in a daydream

when

you don’t even know

that I have a million faces.

Double-faced.

For me,

that’s all you are

now.

 

Poem: Mirage

Lost
in this infinite ocean
of scorching sand

Hope
now mere vapour
in this hellish furnace

Bewitched
by oblivion's Siren-song;
ready to collapse
into her waiting arms

Then
you came along
slipping your fingers
into mine

Your smile
quenching my parched soul,

Your touch
soothing as cool water,

Your words
promising escape.

But only now do I see:
I was just another naive fly
ensnared
in your web;

A wanderer in the desert,
and your love
just a mirage

 

---

Written for the school-level English Versification contest for the topic Mirage. Meh. Could have done better. But unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to revise, so here's the poem, in all its unpolished glory. (If the second stanza seems familiar to you, it's because I shamelessly tweaked a few lines from Fire, my previous poem.) Thoughts?