THE BURNING BOAT

I had burnt my boat

When I crossed the sea

I was then alone

Only my shadow witnessed it

Now, the stink of burning only I can smell

The burnt mark is visible to those

Who have sparks in their eyes

I am carrying the sea and burnt the boat within me

My boat was burning

There on the sands of seashore

Since then with the every tide

Sea attempts to put out the fire and

Wash off my burnt boat

Even for the high tide, it’s not possible to do so

My heart is burning in separation of my beloved

It’s pangs are too intensive

My blanket cannot properly cover my body

To extinguish the fire

The sea is nothing but my vast body

My toes are touching the sea bed

My boat is my heart within – the Sun on the sky

Smokes come out all over in my mind

My hairs turned into ashes grey

By the heat of my burning heart

It seems, my heart can’t meet;

Can’t make reunion with my beloved

Till the sea of my body gets dried out

O, my Lord!

How long I will have to wait

To show you my burning heart

Alas…!

WOMAN, BEYOND THE INDEX OF BODY

Lake like eyes/ Scarlet coral-like lips/ Curly-curvy hairs

Attraction all four directions

These are mazes

Face and physical charms are curtains, indeed

A weapon to keep off you from the desired abode

A true woman lives in somewhere else

Beyond the index of her body

Sitting crouch like a recluse

Just like an abstract thing

Like a dream of snow-white clouds

Sometimes, similar to the moonless dark night

Dormant lightening, full of its potency

Extremely tough meditation is needed

To open her inner layers of heart,

Love is considered to be the genuine pearl of a woman

This can discover by proceeding beyond her body

Otherwise, nothing lies in the whirlpool of body

Man wants to overpower

The screaming body of a woman

But the body is a dune of sands/ a fair of desires

There is only mirage and mirage

Woman uses to be hidden,

Somewhere in her inner self,

Instead of, being found in her apparent body

Which is like an epic center of a live volcano

A man in his entire life

Uses to run after fascinating faces

Like those idiot men

Who on the surface of the water

Often, stare at diving and floating waves

With their curious eyes

Use to play, the whole day, with shells lying on beaches

Perhaps, they do not know

That the true pearls are senselessly lying

In the depth of a sea,

Where the breathes not much support the divers

To achieve such unknown pearls in the deep sea

Needed to wait till the lips of shell get opened

To get the original element of a woman

You will have to raise the curtain of deceitful face

You will have to step down

In to the concealed room of her heart

You will have to knock and knock again

At the tightly closed window of her soul

A woman is not a thing of luxury

Not a commodity of marketing

Not even a body of only bone and flesh

The true name of a woman is ——

Love, love, and only love!

Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar is a Consultant Editor (Urdu) in National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Ministry of Education, Government of India. He had been Principal Publication Officer in National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language in 2007. He has been, a member of Advisory Board of National Book Trust India.

He is a Multilingual (English, Hindi and Urdu) famous poet, short story writer and critic from India. He is Graduate with English Honours from Ranchi University. He has topped Jawaharlal Nehru University in Masters with Literature. He was awarded Doctor of Philosophy for his Research Work from University of Delhi. He is Post Graduate Diploma holder in Calligraphy, Mass Media and in Book Publishing with Specialization in Editing.

Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar began writing his poems in English since lockdown in the period of Pandemic COVID-19. He has written more than 100 poems, participated in many worldwide webinars and published in various international anthologies, so far. His as many as 25 poems have been translated by many award-winning litterateurs into Polish, Indonesian, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Bengali, Hindi, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, and Albanian languages. His poems are being published in several anthologies within the country and abroad. He has 20 published books of literature in his credentials, so far. He has won many awards and accolades for his outstanding intellectual and literary contributions. His poem ‘The Burning Boat’ contains mystic (Sufism) and metaphysical elements.