GHAZAL : THE BELOVED

Remembering Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Lines that grapple doubt, written because of the beloved :
when  grief subsides, what survives the loss of the beloved ?

Your every declaration is suspect.
That was, at least, the departing gloss of the beloved.

Were you a merely a servant of the state
or (now you give the coin a toss) of the beloved ?

How pure you were, resistant in an orchard.
Peace with justice : the cause of the beloved .

A scent of hyacinth clings to your fingers,
of sap from a broken leaf, of moss, of the beloved.

Ambiguous predators howl within earshot.
You would like to curl up between the paws of the beloved.

Now uniforms cite scripture to erase you.
Only rabble and vermin die under the laws of the Beloved.

Who signed the warrant that sealed you in this cell ?
Who read your messages ? Who was the boss of the beloved ?

How pure you were, how abject you are now,
waterboarded after the double-cross of the beloved.

You are promised release on the recognizance
(will this be a redemptive clause ?) of the beloved.