AAQIB KHATIBI - POEMS

Aaqib Khatibi is a freelance writer based in India. His work has been part of different literary magazines and journals across the globe. Apart from creative writing his opinion essays, journals are also published widely in different levels internationally. 

​Somewhere alone in deep or high

​Are you fainting perplexed in the scorching heat by the boiling water of your pond?
I know it is grueling to walk miles upon deserted land, barefooted to find shattered harmonies
You cannot just no more lurk in shadows of withering trees they are too weak to give a shade
And, there are still a thousand miles to chase before the twilight at the feet of distant mountains
 
There you stop for a while in suspiration and stare somewhere deep in the clouds above, gliding feathers of the birds across through the sky of tranquility
And then your blues slowly fade like dark evanescent memories collected from the steps you trod.
Look around and find seclusion, diving in the depth of absolute solitude, liberated in the atmosphere to take a leap scaling the skies.
Even for just a moment if a dark history strikes your head, it turns that peace into a stifling dead silence covered in a worn-out cloak of atrocities.
 
The second you remember them all, the paradise bleeds out of the blue, appalling shades prevail dark behind alluring mountains at the dawn.
Crawling on the back the fear knocks on the door, shattering piece by piece by the swift winds which once conveys some moments of ecstasy
There you go discontent for your life long desires, keep all the concealed until faded by the tears
If you find the distortion of your own thoughts when silence draws from crooked smiles, turn around in queer whispers and there you find.
 
Among the queer whispers, placate showers blossom flowers; there is a deep place of serenity in some deep down seamless ocean.
Dive in some depth below, feel the breeze that passes amidst the mountains that hold the light of dawn
And as you splash the water, the ripples drift all your miseries away; by the shore, under the waters, you will never live a solitary life.
Blue washes the blue away, the place indeed capacious but no room for tears, chase the perpetual distances once again when there are no borders to segregate, no borders to discriminate.

​Do you remember the rain?

​Murky skies pouring down on wet feet, covered baby in cloak by the street, do you remember that rain where I cried the first?
Whole new fantasies, cherished laughter, and cries, where we chased the paper boats down those pavements, do you remember the rain where we slipped in joy?
The boat chased perpetual distances and so we, evanescent memories of petrichor in the lawn after the rain, do you remember beaming dewdrops in our garden that noon?
Things never last long and I do witness, the deep sea of tranquility turned into atrocities, do you remember the thunderstorm where we left the home?
We slipped again but may not in joy, bursting not in laughter, clouds obscure sunlight in our lawn, I thank the pours to hid our tears?
Withering plants groaning for peaceful showers, brewing storms left no life behind, the twilight brings no joy anymore, do you remember the showers for which we prayed?
Spring knocks the door, we stumble and search reasons of rejoicing, we are bent not broken and the buds
Are yet blossom, do you remember the rain where we searched moments of ecstasy?
New reasons to withstand, a new asylum from broken pillars, fireflies reluctantly seek some space and the environment appease itself, remember those showers revived our verdure.
There is an edge after the cliff which ends in a void of deep emptiness, when the leaves wither and bury as autumn outreach the feet, beg to remember the rain where we end up serene in heavens above.
With four shoulders that never wept, we traveled miles to seek a new asylum, some grieved but never returned, do you feel the rain when it cried upon our funeral?

Bring the bittersweet memories to our grave, smile, and cry when you stumble upon each of them, all the warm memories will keep us lighten and broil remember the rain which irrigates these flowers grown upon our soil.

​My city on flames

​This uncanny gets me baffled every time when in despair I look out the window
When I perceive burning flames over shelters and breathes choked by burning ashes
Parching winds carry groaning cries from miles to my room amongst glaring sparks
And look here I am somewhere in grieved silence and dark.
 
High skyscrapers engulf in large flames, the city gleams again in the dark
Can find a little life amongst all these who are probing a foreign land
The shore of my countryside which once forgotten is thronging again in a tussle
I will be awakened in the next dawn with absolute solitude in isolation.
 
I see them drifting along with the smoke by the ocean to lavish lands which is mine no more
Burning shelters, stifling smoke, no creatures but me
Carbon sky over my head, venom in the holy rivers, the stranded city looks dreadful
 There is a glimmering flash outside in my city, which drifts them away from my coast.
 
May it take a bit more time, compassion to raise these buildings again
Some colors may prevail again in the gloomy sky by the dawn of next morning
Hope wind will bring some cherishing laughter again when it knocks on my window gate

The city flourishes to glisten again not the flames but its glorious state.

​In a new state of beauty

​She can hear the words of despair, the standard of beauty and allure
She held her head high, but stumbled to reach the tempting stars
Sins she never knows, cries the night before the mirrors
But what can she do at the end for the love she never gets.
 
Wish for the mesmerizing beauty which no one actually knows
For her, it starts from the edges of the body and ends with the complexion
A little fairer mask can get her face sculpted
Even if it hurts it can hold the tears back.
 
Get some satisfaction with a distorted reflection on her mirror
The face which is carved thousand times to make it fairer
More than a sculpture rather than being a human
Lucent faces covered with fake perceptions of allure
 
But she does not know, where she turns around there are a thousand sculptures like her
Drifting away from reality to a different delusion
But somehow she will walk aways, from the realm with a fair sky, over the storm clouds, and fake smiles over bleeding tears.

​I will leave a smile for you

​ When I will get depressed by those rush of the winds in my verandah on empty gloomy nights, When I will be thrown out of doors by breaking hope from my mysterious past, I will muster up my last courage, to appease, and will smile in the despair for you.
May I will never find the reason for those burning piles and flames in my room. Yes, they burn but that’s not new. I will get thicker skin may be in disguise, but I will never lose those bruises.
I am not alone, I am trapped among those astonishing charm of lights of this big city of allure but in my tunnel, I am still chasing the light. These charms are so dark in here, in thorny roads, but hey! Don’t you worry I will still crisp a smile?
I know my atrocities, Yes, I am bleeding but do you know I am leaving you soon? So, let me hold your hands till my last breath and let you take you away from this chase. You will be in the world with thousands of reasons to survive, with thousands of reasons to dwell, with thousands of reasons to breathe but without me.
I am a withered man, withering, shredding piece by piece by the rush of the winds, in your evergreen life. My body begins to end; they will hang me on the hands of the clock of the bad times but I still have you for all my merrily smiles.
You were right I learned so much from this drama, to hide the groaning emotions, to keep my tears back, but it will be over soon along with me. I still got enough blood to bleed and tears in my body to cry. Be happy, I am self-sufficient to cast a smile.
I can imagine those green days when I was on the shore far from all the whirlpools. When I, I was a novice on making disguised smiles. But autumn had to come on all our greens, so let the greenery shreds peacefully. I don’t make a noise when I leave, so let me smile till I last breath.
I’m lost in my world with all those dark fantasies; you will be surprised I am the only character in this drama. Or, they left early. I don’t want you to be a part of this; don’t want to steal any more innocent smiles.
So I leave a letter for you, I may not be there for your extra shoulder. So, if tomorrow starts without me, never dare to cry. I will take all my hardships with my soul in the pool of god. I will demand a reason for us.
But let me stay in your shadow today, under those green trees from our past. We already have traveled so far and the seasons have changed for us. I will never be strong again for your shining armor but you will never wipe tears alone; I will leave a smile for you.