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ABOUT A NATION BENT UPON SELF-ANNIHILATION
Blazing afternoons,
In a country which is,
Going to the dogs.
Thousands of people,
Are struggling for survival,
Yet what amazes me,
Is finding some, nay, several,
Watching cricket matches,
And tennis contests,
Via the satellite cable,
On flat-screen TV sets!
The politicians plunder,
The bureaucrats blunder,
And the June sun,
Has muffled all thunder,
Melted the rain clouds,
Scattering asunder,
Tidings from higher...
In minutes from now,
The power will be cut off,
As the load shedding hours,
Which like 'chain lightning',
Will make nature scoff,
At the state of inertia,
That has seized Pakistanis...
It appears to me quite clearly,
As each second ticks by,
Silently and stealthily,
That men, women or children,
Do no longer care or worry
Or even think about
The pathetic circle,
Of poverty and inflation --
-- Now accepted as "fate",
And wreaking more havoc,
And nurturing corruption.
While the abounding pythons,
In the 'corridors of power',
Are 'using' democracy,
As a mere, hollow slogan,
To ruin us -- one and all,
The young and old alike,
With cool determination.
Doom and destruction,
Have opened their valves,
Even God does not matter,
To the 'wolves' and the 'calves',
Feeding upon the meek,
And fattening themselves,
Have forgotten how downfall,
Is wrought by such actions:
How Athens, Pompeii, Italy,
The 'Pharoanic' Egyptians,
The Huns and the Aryans,
The Mongols and the Persians,
The Brits and the Nazis,
And the Communist Russians,
Vanished and perished,
Just because they too practiced,
Tyranny and oppression.
And their crimes are now told,
By unbiased historians...
That know how it all takes place,
The rise and the downfall,
Of corrupt civilizations...
All this makes me shudder,
Even though I am perspiring,
And my whole being trembles,
Too see massive jaws opened up --
-- Just like violent bull hippos --
Waiting patiently and calmly,
Slinking under water,
And planning slowly yet surely
The fall of the entire nation...
Did we Pakistanis,
Truly deserve the freedom?
The cherished "independence",
And the "great vision"
Of a progressive Muslim nation?
Was Jinnah really right,
In sacrificing everything,
So that India's Muslims,
Could be free to rise and become,
"The Citadel of Islam",
And an indestructible bastion?
The summer flares mock me,
And the stinking humidity,
Warns me deep inside,
That nobody's bothered,
About Hell or Heaven.
There is no doubt left,
That suicidal mentality,
Lurks like a dragon,
To destroy and ruin,
Poet Iqbal's 'vision'*;
Is this a homeland,
Or just a wasteland?
An Islamic welfare state?
Or an empire of Satan?
Pakistan has become rotten,
And yet it is being eaten.
By vultures and ravens,
Circling over the region.
If these events continue.
We will all be wiped out.
By the demons of damnation.
Spreading out their wings.
In silent communion,
Circling the frenzied sun...
Most of us give a damn,
To the dangers all around,
That constantly abound;
As the ominous nightmare,
Of self-annihilation,
Waits for us to get sucked,
Into a gaping black hole.
Of eternal oblivion...
