In The Ravages Of War Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

From the ravages of war
Imminent
The soul of the country has gone
Languishing
But the man who after thirty years
In his Italian suit
And crocodile skin shoes
Who apparently talked sense
Who was neither the idealist
The revolutionary
The mad man of masses
Nor a poet
Who lived in mansions
Who reappeared again
Who put his documents
With his youthful photograph
Who had gone old now
Not much
Who wanted his Mercedes to be allowed
To be imported
Who was a tycoon of transit business
Who had grown his fortunes
In many other countries
Who was all smiles
Obedient
Who may have rescued
Some Lauras*
From their lovers
To safe heavens
Who offered his visiting card
To be kept
For rainy days
Who was the man
Who sold the world
Wisely
In the ravages of war
4/12/2009

*Laura: The epic heroine of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago.