Longing For Peace Poem by Mohammad Younus

Strange! how I drew the word 'peace' on sand,
I drew it in the shape of 'Kashmir map',
But it got erased by the steps of soldiers,
Chasing the children playing in the graveyard,
A ding-dong battle between two groups of children -
The native slaves, and the government gunners,
I composed a poem on peace in my heart,
I heard it in the bed through the night,
But, the pillow under my head was plumped,
With alll kinds of obnoxious stuff -
Killing, maiming, and torturing of youth,
Blinding of children, and molesting of women,
Burning of villages, and all mayhem,
Like ferrocious wolves untethered in my home,
My dream was encircled with a moat of pain and fear,
Making it well-nigh impossible to enter house of peace
Strange! still I loved the word ' peace'
Now, I sleep in the hollow of an anxious chinar tree,
Without a mattress, quilt, and pillow,
With my eyes wide open, brooding over my dream,
When shall the dawn of peace break?
Dawn must be getting close, for I have,
Never seen the night darker than it is right now.
With great hope, I am waiting for the dawn to venerate 'peace'

Mykoul