On Your Way Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Through the nature's blown inscriptions,
Below the countenance of sharp brittle cuts
As first of the soldier, and the picket -
Had a cold smell of lighted window, gauzed
‘You need to cook in your boots' to not blister you.
Look, I am taking you through Khyber Pass,
The commander looked my way,
Only crossed on foot, by ones like Babur.

They had carved insignia, on every
Flat stone. Every sharp turn, every treacherous ravine.
Though you are divine anger, a liberator,
The virtue of having spilled your blood, -a homeland
Meaning more than a step into a booby trap.
You are what you seem. For me you are, whether
This side or that. You are a way, whatever flag in your hand,
You hold it to your chest, for it shall wrap you, on your way.

-On my training with a military detachment and passing Khyber Pass on foot with them in 1994.

Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
May 26,2014.

Khyber Badges Landi Kotal Pakistan, photo by Tony Cunnane @ Tony Cunnane UK