WHERE AM I?

Where am I

in your life?

In the morning breeze

or the evening star,

hesitant drizzle

or sharp rain,

silver moonlight

or hot noon,

deep thoughts

or casual tunes?

Where am I

in your life?

Down from work,

a weekend's interval

on a beach,

or an unintended

silken release between your fingers

from serial smoke?

Or a readily replenished,

freshened moment without wine,

or a moment's leave, anonymous,

between the breaking of one dream

of love and another's beginning?

Where am I

in your life?

ALAMGIR HASHMI is an English poet and scholar, who has also translated many Asian writers. His work is widely anthologised. His latest poetry books are A Choice of Hashmi's Verse (1997) and The Ramazan Libation (2003). He has been Professor of English and Comparative Literature in Asian, European, and American universities. She used the first-person feminine pronoun, which is rarely used in Urdu poetry even by female poets. The feminine perspective of love and the associated social problems were her theme.