The Poem: Kashmir

We lost them like the fragrance in the wind.

They disappear never to return; what tragedy. When last did I cry?

( Sabreen Parray )

Burning valley, wailing women, crying children and dying men.

World is silent, no one hears, no one cares: they pretend not to see: when last did I cry.

( Lone Reyaz )

Once upon a time they called me Paradise, I was elated, they spoke of my beauty.

Now they tear me apart, and gift me atrocity: when last did I cry.

( Neha Singh )

Haunted roads, wounded hearts, fearless prey in my arms.

One last prayer one last dream, give me wings let me free: when last did I cry.

( Mudasir Ahmad Kuloo )

Amidst the season of curfew, and the festival of white shrouds and blooming graveyards.

I sang a love song to the bygone peace, and love set my mourning free, when last did I cry?

( Zubair Arif Shah )

We belong to a generation of broken, of the dead yet walking, beaten to earth yet coming up with a smiling face.

We are our heroes, patient and courageous; fighting, we stand proud of our balckened eyes that cannot see. When last did I cry?

( DAQ Owaisi )

My nights turn sleepless as I visualize Kashmir.

From a land full of bloom to the land full of graves, such cruelty: When last did I cry?

( Saima Shafi )

To the half-widow, awaiting her husband’s message,

who was buried unmarked under the dark sky: stars stand witness, that night they did see: when last did I cry?

( Aameer Rafiq Wani )

There, where lived a soul inside a corpse, disappeared and decomposed.

A wailing mother sings songs for her son, waiting for him to be free, when last did I cry.

( Hameem Fayaz )

My heart longs to be home. Far off from home I see the crimson sky,

the tears of a child, the pellets in her face. O' Zuhra we will be free: when last did I cry?

( Hameem Fayaz )