Line Of Control

They come to see us In the company of winds and rains Their whispers are heard Besides the doors And empty corridors are filled With the shimmering garments and scented bodies. Leaping over the walls, slipping down the roofs and sun shades Walking with voiceless steps like the shadows of clouds Eyes see them crossing the silence Of half paved courtyards Far from reach Moving towards measureless distances. The windows yawn with mouth agape And ponder on that; Overthrowing the earth, nestled comfortably on its breast Looking triumphantly towards the sky These mountains, beyond them There must be a lake And birds and nimbus clouds And thickets of trees running into each other Uneven grassy plains Herds of sheep and lonely shepherds And pathways running far away There must be some village, some city Or some other country Where some other poet (like myself) lives Writing verses! Demarcation is easy on parchments A few dots and lines delimitate Mountains, rills, streams, sloping grounds Fields, settlements, jurisdictions, ownerships and regions Passes and secret paths Even forts and battlements with rows of iron - clad heads Can be drawn. But while pointing out the shadows overstepping the walls Extending to doors, windows, courtyards And the silence spread up to the remote recesses of the hearts, The sun and rain change their hue On the ground plan. (Translated from Urdu into English by Prof. Ghulam Jilani Asghar)