Daily Times

Kingdoms fell

cosmos and comets crashed

and the sun turned over in its thrice-told tale

of terror

and this son of Sialkot stood

thigh-high

in gore and gut

held off the shining hordes

held them

this magnificent shield while others may retreat

while

something of the ancient myth be yet retrieved

stood there

grim as death

stood there

where the river waters are dark, the earth green

above him a spurning sun

around him spinning blood

there isn’t loneliness enough to crush him

yet

the soggy letter from his just-wed wife

soaked in tears now soaks in red

hark

who stands silhouette in the sunset stock-still

bloody bayonetted but refuses to bow

now

the earth revolves a reluctant revolution

a piffer is down

and he’s gone.

I remember,?

Dacca, March, 1971

Sabir, friend and brother

your gray eyes suddenly become somber

foreseeing ?

a universal blood dance?

a universal blight that?

amputees inflict on themselves?

you saw it all?

the lost cause, the awesome response

yet you smiled?

the secret smile of the soldier?

knowing?

that darkness will descend?

and eternal glory be won.

The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington