Two poems from---

Waiting . . .

Dawn, like the spring shower, is fast gone
And morning has embraced the day.

In my lonely moments I have waited
And heard songs of love and pining.

I have waited for you.

But then in the lonely woods
The birds went on singing their song.

In pain, morose and in aloneness.

Can anyone be more lonely, more in pain?
Can such a glamorous life be?

Yet I wait for you.

For that rainbow-touched dawn
When all these birds will jump in glee.

And sing to us the song of communion.

Of oneness.

I want to fly!

         *************************

Light . . . in you

Through the impenetrable gloom
Through the darkness that prevails
I can see light . . . in you.

Across the mountains and the gushing
Waterfall, I can see you shining like
Silvery sunlight on the waters,
Like the little pebble coming down
From the mountain . . .

Torn and bruised by the trials of time,
I find solace in the light of your eyes,
So beaming with faith and hope.
You are the balm that soothes the wound,
Like rain nourishing the mind,
Lighting new hope for the future.
Had there not been this darkness in life
I would not know the significance of light.

That light illuminates some deep crevices
Of my life…it touches millions, and promises
Brilliance in the times to be.

Syeda Zakia Ahsan writes from London