Fragments by Majeed Ajez

                 (1)
Each night the sun is lifted on a bier,
No wonder shadows live but briefly here.
The earth lies hushed, no whisper in the air,
And darkness, like the god, stays silent there.

                 (2)
No green fruit, nor any cooling shade
The jungle echoes with a dove’s mournful cry
As fire is bound to wood in flame
So too is the bond between the world and I

                 (3)
Your scarf waved softly and moonlight flowed.
Your lips stirred and flowers kissed the air.
The flock wanders and faints upon the plain.
The shepherd’s eyes are caught in honeyed glare.

                  (4)
A melancholy song descends in melody,
I wonder to whom your bright bangles confide.
Your morrow and the day beyond gleam radiantly,
While my yesterday and today lie dark as a grave inside.

                  (5)
To death and pain unfamiliar I stand.
In each breath an apocalypse unfolds.
Here kohl is worth far less than dust and sand.
Here tears and blood alone are sold.

                  (6)
Not even the thinnest comfort warms my children’s bowl,
The famished fishermen no longer venture to the sea
To flee the ravenous wolves haunting the darkened wilderness
A poor shepherd feeds his herd on water at the sea.

                  (7)
You walked this path with quiet grace and elegance,
I breathed a heavenly breeze, spread far and wide.
Leave Ajez be—he’s mad, indeed, quiet mad—
He wept for long, then laughed through all the pain inside.


                 (8)
No one looks this way anymore,
For whom should I turn my head and see?
Who knows what fate the coming day may store—
Today’s but yesterday’s echo to me.