Two Ghazal Poems by Mohammad Zahid

 

In Silence

 

Do you know what it means to love in silence? 

Made in the divine precincts, a vow in silence 

 

What the angels witness, in the whisper of prayers 

The earthly definitions may question, how in silence? 

 

All the accusations you make, like one such reticence 

I’ve tread on your path, say, what now, in silence 

 

The meek earthlings that we are, bound to be flawed 

Some consolation from heaven above, in silence  

 

The war cries, cacophony of the ricocheting rounds 

What cost carries the cooing of a dove, in silence? 

 

The clamour of machines men handle round the clock 

Some moments of sleep would it allow, in silence? 

 

Zahid, life at the end is but a heavy burden of sins 

Eyes lowered in remorse, to Him you bow in silence 

 

 

 

 

Somehow

 

Searching in the cracked mirror for my face, somehow 

As deep ravages of time my fingers trace, somehow 

 

The undulations of time having heaved on moon tide 

arching out its oceanic belly to the moon at ace, somehow 

 

The scars, the hands try to conceal with their ageing quiver 

reveal their youthful temerity, with hint of grace, somehow 

 

Stories told, forgotten, the songs sung in a silent symphony 

sojourns in solitude, retreat in a restless pace, somehow 

 

Mathematics of greed reeks of esurience, devouring hapless  

with exponentials of an un-diminishing base, somehow 

 

As breathing gets hard, intercostals pull the ribcage, sinful life  

weighs down the sternum, pleading for a space, somehow 

 

It all comes to a standstill, Zahid, bound, lowered down finally 

What could it be otherwise, an open and shut case, somehow

Mohammad Zahid’s first poetry collection The Pheromone Trail bagged the Best Book Award from the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Jammu & Kashmir in 2015. His latest poetry collection Graffiti of Dreams has been published by The Writers Workshop Kolkata, India in 2023

He has translated Kashmiri Zuban Aur Shayiri by Abdul Ahad Azad into English, commissioned by the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Jammu & Kashmir. He has also translated a collection of essays Aaena Khana by Aziz Hajini, a monograph on the Kashmiri poet, Abdul Raheem Aama into English, published by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. He is a recipient of the Jibananda Dass Poetry Translation Award, conferred by the Kolkata Poetry Confluence, in 2022, for translation Prof. Naseem Shifai’s poems.

Zahid’s poems have appeared in various international journals. The Spanish translation of his poems was included in Antología - Gestos de la Poesía 2022 published by the Cultural Centre of Universidad de Los Andes, Columbia.

He is the translation editor at Muse India and The Lakeview International Journal of Language and Literature. Apart from his poetic meanderings, he also talks to his surroundings through his camera lenses, capturing his perception of life and nature in pixels.