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 [email protected]
Published in Daily Times, December 25th 2017.