Shehryar Khawar

To you my friend, who ever gave a fuck;

to you my friend, who ever cared at all

None of your fucks ever mattered;

none of them were counted at all

The night is silent and Gamayun sits atop a lonely rock, looking down on the city of lights. A gentle breeze is blowing from the North-East, carrying faint shades of some long-lost and ancient fragrance. Then suddenly she senses a presence – there is someone beckoning her attention from the shadows. She raises her hand and commands:

Far away from all this filth and all this stinking mold;

there is a secret and silent garden of unfulfilled dreams

The garden is colorless, neither silver or purple nor gold;

no chirping or singing, just a chaos of cries and screams

All the faceless monsters

lurking under your bed;

and grey smoky ghosts,

hiding quietly in the shed

They are still alive

and very much well fed;

their appetites are strong,

smelling your fears and dread

Oh you were so mistaken

and you were so very wrong;

they are still here

and they are still very strong

Myth says that once upon a time, even before the birth of time itself, the Cyclopes Polyphemus saw Galatea, the nymph and fell in love with her.

No need for metamorphosis and change

when the change won’t change the mind

of all the shooters standing on the range;

people I love, both hateful and the kind

The belief in me being utterly bad,

is stronger than your belief in God

Yes, perceiving me as evil is so sad,

but you love it, it may be flawed

I don’t mind it and I don’t mind it at all;

I am now falling and I will but fall

Who am I?

A terrible figment of God’s imagination;

or as I often tell myself, a mirthful lie?

Perhaps, what was meant to be discarded;

kept aside carelessly and was meant to die?

Oh you sad children of a time so evil and dark;

the product of undesirable circumstances;

and love gone stale before it could spark

Loss is the key and the doorway;

the doorway beyond which wisdom lies

Loss is the one path and the only way;

the darkness beyond which light cries