CUL DE SAC 

                  (Iftikhar Nasim)


Wind is howling
Like a wolf
Looking for a prey
Hitting its head
At the doors,
Walls and window-panes
But of no use
Who is going to
Open the door for it
Wind, a restless child of the nature
Throwing tantrum for attention
Wind gentle like Kamni*
And sometimes fierce like Kali**
Ah!
Wind has so many faces
Making waves higher than the third floor
And high rise dwellers feel so safe
Wind the scavenger is licking the dust of the past
From the marble slabs
Wind an eternal remedy
For the tyrants
Depositing dust on their
Palaces and weed on their graves
Showing everybody
Who is the mightier
Wind raising flags of the clouds raiding cities
Trampling the streets and tall building
Under the hooves of its army of
Horses and elephants

And sometime wind like a nymph playing
Hide and seek in the forest
Suddenly enters a blind alley
And dies.
 

 

*Kamni: A female figure in Indian mythology, known
 for its gentleness and grace; especially when it appears
 in the Katha Kali dance..

**Kali: an Indian goddess, one of ten forms of Lord Siva's
 consort, renowned for her ferocity.

(From Search for Identity, ISBN 91-86620-04-5)