POETS’ CORNER

Poems forever

The Arrow and the Song

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

Stolen childhood

By Abid Agha

(Written on the occassion of Child Labour Day)

Baba, the mornings bite like frost,

and my thin clothes are no armour.

Yet still, I must work

to feed my little siblings

and keep the roof from falling.

My small hands shake beneath loads

this body was never meant to bear.

I watch children my age

march to school in crisp,

bright uniforms,

their laughter a knife in my chest.

Why not me?

Was I born only to labour and suffer?

I dream of warm meals, soft beds,

of sunlight on skin not caked in dust,

of toys I can hold, burgers I can taste.

But I bring home only crumpled notes

and bones weary long before their time.

Each evening, childhood slips

through my fingers,

trapped in the unyielding

grasp of poverty.

Baba, will I ever sit in a

classroom like them,

laugh without fear, run without pain?

Or will my life always be weighed down

by labour that scars both body and soul

before my season has even come?

Theatrical absurdity

By Sa'ad Nazeer

I have tried solitude

And mingled with people;

It didn't work.

I essayed to bore myself

With the sweetest gossip,

Which proved to be distasteful.

Then I drove into the storm

To awaken the pangs of the heart.

No luck.

I have picked up books,

And the imbeciles turned against me.

I have sat through films

And kept talking to myself;

They didn't soothe my soul.

I have contemplated

And danced in this circus,

Desperately trying to extract rhythm,

only to find out there's none.

I have stayed idle

And cooked myriads of schemes,

Which came crashing down like waves.

I have remained insomniac

And dreamed about your indifference,

Which resulted in delirium.

What do I want?

What have I become?

June

By Nargis Karim

May June never come back.

Who knew it would be

the most depressing month of my life?

I wasn't prepared for its harsh tests.

One loss after another

ripped through my heart

and shattered my peace.

In the quiet hours,

when no one could hear my soul shatter,

I sobbed.

I lost my grandfather first,

then myself,

and even my tiny kitten,

who vanished like a gentle dream

fading in the light of day.

You took away all my beautiful moments

in June 2025

and left me in silence.

I still breathe your name,

even though you destroyed everything.