As I straggle through the crowded Anarkali A gigantic demon unleashes from my meek body Like a primordial whale plundering coastal villages I gorge on the silver, blue, white vehicles Shameless Rickshaws with dyed green bodies Electric boards of restaurants and stray cats I gulp down into my heart like abyss Women of different ages with soft bites All young and old men without walking sticks Ugly junkies with tattered clothes And electrocuted movements Chickens out of poultry farms with shocked faces I swallow without fear the smells of tea And battered down testicles on flat pans Of cigarettes and flatulence of automobiles I devour all hands and fingers of yellow bananas Chairs and tin tables clustered out of restaurants And shoes which frequent shops like flies Soon all grey and coloured buildings With lights shining out of their foreheads And wires extended across streets Tumble down and fall with gargling sounds Into my spacious stomach Followed by juice shops and cold drinks As I reach the end of the street absorbed The demon has consumed everything anew I turn briskly towards the ancillary road Later, the demon will regurgitate with backward glance And scribble poems resembling earthquaked city From sounds and silence of this cruel dark place. The writer is a student of English Literature at Government College University, Lahore and can be reached at rosseautolstoy5@gmail.com Published in Daily Times, December 25th 2017.