A Concise Anatomy of the Esotericism between

a Surajmukhi¹ and Madhumakkhi²

for Nashwa Y. Butt and Umme A. Ali

after The Sunflower by Gustav Klimt (Austria), 1906–1907 CE

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.

– Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

   I.

“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”—

such utilitarian dictums can hardly ever qualify

as the koh-e-noor³ (in a queen’s crown) to embellish

the Throne of Esotericism – the omniscient guardian

of the coalescence b/w a surajmukhi and madhumakkhi,

as the subatomic electric charges labour to preserve an atom.

N.B.

The exordium and epitome of the aforesaid hum-nafasi⁴

manifests naturally on the grounds of Bauhausian Minimalism:⁵

each simply gives ‘n takes ≯ one’s ^original/_organic ^desires/_dreams!

   II.

AND the Fruits of Philanthropic Labour:

the ↑ the volume of donation of the floral nectar,

     the ↑ the rate of generation of the extrafloral nectaries;

the honey from the bee’s belly relishes the reputation

     as the universal remedy for all manner of ailments;

the mysterious constituents of God’s formulae

     for the propagation of ^macro/_microcosms are laid bare.

© Saad Ali

______________

^1. Surajmukhi (Sanskrit): Sunflower.

^2. Madhumakkhi (Sanskrit): Honeybee.

^3. Koh-e-Noor (Persian): Mountain of Light.
^4. Hum-nafasi (Persian): Breath-sharing companionship.

^5. Bauhaus (1919–1933 CE): The European Modernist Movement/German Art school – with an emphasis upon:

a) combining crafts and fine arts, b) functionality, and c) minimalism (in architectural design).

Le Souvenir: Clay Spinning Top

for Maimoona & Anwaar

after The Spinning Top Game (Le jeu De Toupies) by Nasreddine Dinet (France), 1924 CE

   The famous Mall Road connects the Cantonment area to almost all the major towns and boulevards of the Metropolitan. (The City still has a long, long journey to complete to be truly known as a ‘Cosmopolitan’.) Thanks for the very dual carriageway – with a lush mixed cluster of Pepal, Amaltas, Mahwa, Ticoma, Gul-e-mohar, and Kachnar trees for a green belt (wide dividing strip) – for, it will also take you to the Old City in < 45 odd minutes – provided you don’t travel during the rush hours; provided the weather, power supply, traffic lights, and traffic wardens behave themselves.

   On the way to the Old City, you find an assortment of classic and (post-)modern iconic buildings – from The British Raj Era, too – on either side of the 8–10 km long stretch: Governor’s House, Alhamra Arts Council, Aitchison College, National College of Arts, Museum, Cathedral Church of Resurrection, Masonic Temple, Bagh-e-Jinnah, et cetera. … The Bagh-e-Jinnah (formerly: Lawrence Gardens) is also a home to a 150-year-old tree – Banyan (a hybrid of Banyan branches + Karnikar branches (Kanaka Champa)). … And, if you happen to be an aficionado of history/architecture/arts, you can easily become overwhelmed by the (colour) schemata of the (post-)colonial portrait that the very route happens to be; you can easily find yourself teleported to the late 19^th–early 20^th century CE—when the iconic (London’s) red double-decker buses were also in service in conjunction with the tonga service. Back in the 1930s–40s, the City of Lavapuri/City of Gardens¹ offered an exemplar landscape of (the British/European) modernity.

   *

   This past Summer of ’23 CE, I had had to make the journey – via the very boulevard – to my grand/parents’ ancestral town called Islampura (formerly: Krishan/Sant Nagar) to re-procure a clay spinning top from an old seller of old clay toys. Reason being: the helper had managed to break one from the pair that sat atop my workstation in the study at my place, while she also left the assortment of my journals, fountain pens, ink pots, poem scribbles, pen pouches/holders, lead/mechanical pencils, pair of mechanical keyboards, marble paperweights, cigarette/case + lighters, metal/wood ashtrays, ceramic incense burner, A3/A5 sticky notes, and books hither and thither.

   The clay toy can be easily classified as a souvenir in today’s IT/AI Age. I doubt, if the contemporary generations – Generation Z & Generation Alpha – are even aware of its existence, let alone being aware of where to acquire one. … The clay toy is even far, far older than the times when my grand/parents used to play with it in the streets – laid with bricks made of clay.

   *

   I’m yet to learn to properly operate it – wrap the thin string around its top, middle, bottom; then, with a flick of the wrist unleash the spinning top so as to induce a hundred or so anti/clockwise rotations to it per release.

   Every now ‘n then, I manually make the souvenir whirl on the palm of my left hand – wrong-hand – with a musical adaptation (remix) of رقص ذرات / “Poem of the Atoms” by Jalal al-Din Balkhi (Rumi) playing in the background via YouTube:

O’ Day, rise! So that the particles begin their dance

…

The souls become mystified and joyfully dance

I whisper in your ear where they will dance

..

Every particle, whether joyful or sad,

is infatuated with the light of the Beloved!²

© Saad Ali

______________

¹ Lavapuri (Sanskrit): According to the Hindu tradition/mythology, the City of Prince Lava/Loh – son of God Rama and Goddess Sita (see the Hindu epic poem Ramayana by Valmiki (Adi Kavi/First Poet). Modern day Lahore – the capital city of the Punjab province in Pakistan.

² English translation by Reza Fattahi.

by the force of space + time

for N. Karfakis, L. Jacobs, E. Rahim & Nashwa Y. Butt

after Metaphysical Triangle by Giorgio de Chirico (Italy), 1958 CE

   i

the dandelion seed-light tips of S’s fingers don’t seem

to be familiar with the hypotheses of a beam of light

as the vessel of hypotheses and/or the theoretical theatrics

of e=mc^2[1] and/or the Einsteinian relativity of space + time^[2]

and/or the laws of motion of Newtonian gravity^[3] and/or

the Galilean invariance^[4] and/or Copernican heliocentrism.^[5]

   ii

the wine cork-light fingers simply cannot match the momentum

of the ripples of the keys on his black + blue + red themed

Keychron K2 Pro Chinese mechanical keyboard.

the buraq-like^[6] keys seem too euphoric to perform an ascension

into the superverse of ars poetica. but like the Icarus’ wax-wings,

S’s sunflower petal-light fingers don’t seem to possess

neither the empathy nor the valiance of one Prometheus’

to meet the singularity and be rendered ashes.

   iii

i know a (prose) poem is seeking a refuge

in the cave of these apophthegms ‘n paronomasias.

i know by the time the rails of verses emerge

from the slumber – of a sleeping gypsy’s;

utterly unaware of the sniffing hungry lioness –

maybe in 300 years or so – like the Seven Sleepers

of the cave – they will only be meeting the light of day

to learn of the obsoleteness of their currency.

   *

and i am rather afraid, too afraid to install an anchor of period

anywhere on the floor of the galley. the vessel is best left

trembling in the wake of the seismic gravity of letters.

© Saad Ali

______________

^[1] e=mc²: Theory of Special Relativity by A. Einstein (1905 CE) – with an emphasis upon: a) ‘inertial frames’ (speed of light is constant), and b) merger of space and time; where, time = 4^th dimension.

^[2] The Theory of General Relativity by A. Einstein (1917 CE): ‘Gravity’ is a result of the shape of space-time/geometry of the universe.

^[3] The Three Laws of Motion by Sir I. Newton (1687 CE): Principle of Inertia, Principle of Momentum, and Principle of Action/Reaction.

^[4] The Theory of Special Relativity proposed by G. Galilei (1632 CE): the laws of motion remain the same in all ‘inertial frames of references’ (objects moving at a constant speed).

^[5] The Sun-centric Astronomical Model proposed by N. Copernicus (1543 CE) – opposed to the 2^nd century CE Geocentric Model (Earth at the centre) by C. Ptolemaeus.

^[6] Buraq (Islamic tradition): Chimera (with a body of horse, head of human, and wings).

Biography

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Saad Ali (b. 1980 CE in Okara, Pakistan) has been brought up and educated in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. He is a bilingual poet-philosopher and literary translator. His new collection of poems is titled Owl Of Pines: Sunyata (AuthorHouse, 2021). He has translated Lorette C. Luzajic’s ekphrastic poetry and micro/flash fictions into Urdu: Lorette C. Luzajic: Selected Ekphrases: Translated into Urdu (2023). He is a regular contributor to The Ekphrastic Review. He has had poems published in Synchronized Chaos. His work has been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology. He has had ekphrases showcased at an Art Exhibition, Bleeding Borders, curated at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in Alberta, Canada. Some of his influences include: Vyasa, Homer, Ovid, Attar, Rumi, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Kafka, and Tagore. He enjoys learning different languages, travelling by train, and exploring cities/towns on foot. To learn further about his work, please visit: www.saadalipoetry.com; www.facebook.com/owlofpines.