The Shoe Shiner Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Mirrors adore the dust out
Blown by the thistles of brush,
Hands are shoe-arms to and fro
Unless the face is shone on its blackness,
And the head in rhythmic movement -
Cleverness is defeated
Into the honesty’s deep heights.
A cold day ends,
And eyes are on the shoes of others,
Will they allow to be asked?
Or a shun down the street holding his bag.
Ah! Where you live and how?
Would your son and daughter
And your loved wife the courage to say
That from dust is born the bread
We chew in the eve’s warmth.
Or I sit by you, if only a smile your way,
Or they know that
He steps you through the red carpet
When from his hands you take out,
The leather softened the silk’s way.

Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
February 18,2015.