DEVASTHAN (For Asifa Bano)
Crushed innocence defiles sacred ground, chasing the god from within temple walls.
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From ULR
Issue 9 – Violence
1947: KILL!
Fleeing one furious mob, the identical, bloodthirsty hunt unfolds for another.
June 15, 2023
Kill him! He is Muslim!
Was the call of the crowd.
Swords and knives in hand,
All of them behind me, and
My breath losing its faith,
No time to catch breath and wait..
I ran up the street,
The lane was dark and discreet..
I took a turn to my alley,
The crowd halted I had no idea
Why my blood they wanted.
Behind the filthy wall I sat
Quietness in the air, voices dead,
And then, suddenly, arose another roar,
Safe among my people, but sore,
I saw a man running, scared and sad,
A crowd behind him, beastly mad,
The same song I heard, the tune was new,
‘Kill him,’ they said, ‘He is a Hindu!’
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PART OF A COLLECTIONDEVASTHAN (For Asifa Bano) and 1 other poem
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Aftab Yusuf Shaikh
Shaikh has been writing from the age of eight and teaching from eighteen. His poetry has been published in various journals and esteemed anthologies like The Dance of the Peacock and Before There is Nowhere to Stand. For his first novel The Library Girl (2017) he was adjudged Ne8x Author of the Year 2019. His children’s book Letters to Ammi (2019) was shortlisted for Neev Book Award 2020 and listed among 14 Great Children’s Books on Religious Tolerance and Interfaith Harmony. He published two volumes of poetry Tehzeeb Talkies (2019) and Mominpura (2021), with another Ansari’s Daughter (2023) forthcoming.