High time I evaluate,
The purpose of my being.
Into another year I graduate,
Alive, with a dream of seeing-
“A world without a border”
Be the new world order.
And…
To stir ripples of ‘feeling’
To propogate waves of ‘caring’
To draw floods of ‘sympathy’
And a tsunami of ‘empathy’.
For millions who strife
For mere neccesities of life.
In a world with ignorance, disease and hunger
Aspiring to make a difference , until I linger.
Ilmana Fasih
18 November 2010
Life is a fact,
Living is an art.
Upon us to act,
With choices called ‘smart’.
Neither with options ‘wierd’,
Nor should be feared.
But accept with grace,
The hardships we face.
Whether sweet or sour,
Are the grapes of life,
Stay who we are,
Without bitterness or strife.
Would rather not live,
Than leave my sanity.
More fulfilling to ‘give’,
Than ‘take’ for vanity.
Life’s road takes turn,
Brings lessons to learn.
With display of dignity,
We ascend to eternity.
Ilmana Fasih
10 November 2010
Dulles Airport, Washington DC.
Published in the Aye Karachi Magazine, May 2011.
Written to mourn the nameless individuals gunned down in Karachi in the name of ‘target killings’…
When in 2010
I saw now and then
Innocent beings killed
With liters of blood spilled
As the city drowned in flood
From the target killed’s blood
As the poor and nameless
Became targets of the shameless
And as I stood childishly sobbing
With pain so agonizing, so throbbing
For it put Humanity to shame
I gave that year a name
‘The Bloody year’
And now in 2011
I look up to Heaven
I beg and pray
That killers stay away
But my prayers go unheard
As the killers stay undeterred
The leaders stay unstirred
Peace remains blurred
The killings go on unabated
Gosh, they could have waited
For some days to pass
Before corpses they amass
But no, they have no patience
In blood is drowned their conscience
As the days pass more
Who knows what’s in store
And I shiver with dread
For the months that lay ahead.
I wonder what name will I give to this year?
Ilmana Fasih
14 Jan 2011
A Friend.
He loves you,
But is not your beloved.
He cares for you,
But is not your kin.
He shares your pain,
But is not your blood.
Scolds like a Pa
Cares like a Ma
Pampers like a sis
Annoys like a bro
And after all loves u,
more than you know.
A true friend is a gem.
Are hard to see,
Harder still to have them,
Even harder to be.
A true friend to be,
I wish it was me.
….and my ’girl’ friend SAMINA adds:
To all you can’t be,
To some you may be,
To one you must be.
IlmanaFasih
28 October 2010
Cricket ho ya cricketers, nahin ab koi maza
Ye khelte kam hain, kaat te zyada hain sazaa
Kabhi ball tempering ka ilzaam jhelte hain
Kabhi spot fixing ke baad match khelte hain
Match jeetna to jaise bhool hi gaye
Shayad hi in mein se koi school bhi gaye
Poor ka poora 16 ka squad hai kam aqal
Afsos na koi ek bhi inmein hai khush shakl
Soorat na thee to seerat hi achee rakhtey
Fans na sahee, khuda ko to khush kartey
…
Din to cricket ne the dekhe 20-25 saal beete
Jab test match to kya World Cup the jeete
Woh tabahi battings Zaheer ya Majid khan ki
Ya zaalim ballings Sarfaraz Nawaz aur Imran ki
Majid jo ball ko boundary pe karta that hit
Stadium ki saari larkiyaan jaati thi mar- mit
Zaheer bhi kya ball ka hard hooker tha
Aur uspe kya ‘be-spectacled’ looker tha.
Imran ki to khair baat hi niraali thi
Balling to thee hi, shakl bhi jamali thi
Aur woh Miandad bhi kya sheh tha
Ata that jab pitch par, jeetna to tayy tha.
Kya tha un dinon cricket dekhne ka maza
Ab to match dekhna bhi lagta hai ek saza.
Ilmana Fasih
20 October 2010
Why should my free soul
Be bound by imaginary lines.
Oh why should these lines
Be fenced on the land
Be drawn on the maps
Be etched in the minds
Be engraved in the hearts
I rebel against these confines
I leap across these limits
My feet sense no lines
My eyes see no fence
My mind thinks no limits
My heart feels no bounds
It appears an awful sight
To control my free soul
To the confines of geography.
To the whole world it belongs
Compassion is its language.
Mankind its fellow compatriots.
Yes, Earth is my Homeland.
~Ilmana Fasih
12 January 2011
The love of one’s country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~Pablo Casals
Jab jab cigarette sulgate ho
To Maa ko bhi tum tarpate ho
Aur kash pe kash jo lagate ho
Maa ke armaan bhi to jalate ho
Dhuan jo moonh se urate ho
Maa ke ehsaan bhulate ho.
Moon se jab badboo aati hai
Bus maa hi paas bithati hai
Khaans khaans nidhal jo ho jaate ho
Maa ko bhi behaal banate ho
Sub dost wost kho jaate hain
Maa ki mamta hi saath nibhati hai
Ilmana Fasih
11 Jan 2011
For a mom you will always remain a smoking ‘kid’ no matter how old you get.
Oh! You think you smoke?
That’s such a funny joke.
You actually burn
Into a chimney you turn.
…
You may so pretend
Cigarette is so cool.
Yeah, with fire at one end
At the other end a fool.
…
Hot you say is smoking
You must be joking.
When the cough gets choking
You’ll sound like croaking.
…
So you think they’re thrillers?
No, they’re a bunch of killers.
Who travel in a pack
And take dead bodies back.
…
Jokes apart:
.
It goes far beyond your throat
Into every cell, far and remote
As the after-effects unfold
It begets ailments untold.
For cigarette was designed
To destroy the mankind.
Ilmana Fasih
9 January 2011
P.S.Written after an argument with my brother Subhi on his terrible smoking habit and seeing Ali’s dp of smoking. And the poem is directed at a lot of other friends and dear ones who’s names I cannot say here.They’ll know who I’m talking about. And to all those who I dont know if they smoke.
This is in reference to the religious extremists who believe in controlling the people through the fear psychosis:
…
Ye jo deen ke thekedaar hain
Mazhab inka byapaar hai
Munafe bakhsh ye kaarobaar hai
Mukalama inse bekaar hai
Hukoomat bhi laachaar hai
Shayad Khuda bhi inse bezaar hai
.
Jo fatwe jaari karte hain
Aur khauf sa tari rakhte hain
Masoom qaum ke seene mein
Kya rakha aise jeene mein
Hum zinda ho ke bhi marte hain
Bas azab azab se darte hain
Ye jeena maut se badtar hai
Is zillat se to maut hi behtar hai.
This is in light of the unfortunate reaction of rejoicing of Salman Taseer’s brutal assasination that I saw on FB walls of ‘virtual’ friends and in the sitting rooms of few ‘real’ friends:
As Today I see:
.
Hatred feels as love goes numb
Lies speak as truth goes dumb
Desperation sees as hopes go blind
Apathy emerges as empathy goes behind
.
Extravagance flourishes as simplicity stunts
Modesty is killed as vulgarity hunts
Greed gets acceptable as charity resists
Prosperity evaporates as poverty exists.
.
Awareness drowns as ignorance sails
Reasoning whithers as gun prevails
Extremism wins as tolerance gets defeated
Peace goes extinct as suicide bombs get repeated
.
So for Tomorrow I fear:
.
Devils shall take over as humans vanish
Cruelty will emerge as kindness they’ll banish
Angels will stay quiet as satan will yell
Heavens will weep as Earth turns a Hell.
.
A cult will emerge as ‘real faith ’ will die
Intellectual wings will be clipped as idiots will fly
Darkness they’ll love as awakening they’ll hate
Sanity will mourn as madness will be our fate.
.
Autocracy will stand as democracy shall derail
Barbarians will succeed as humanity will fail
Tolerance they’ll hate and bigotry they’ll cherish
Ruins shall remain as civilization will perish.
.
.
Blind to Bounds 
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