© 2007 Iftekhar Sayeed

verstehen

we fell in love
at
university

there was hatred
in the classrooms
that stank

we rejected
marxism
and fell
in love
with
verstehen

i remember
the morning
our teacher
pronounced
the word
and the windows opened

to try to
understand
every culture
on its own terms

we felt one
with one another
and humankind

we graduated
you took
a job
the baby
was on
its way

donors
paid you
to see
every culture
on their own terms

you said
the money
was good

now i dread
what monster
i might have
brought into
the world

shadow

mihi semper deus
wrote virgil
of octavian

living in
a republic
divided by
leaders into
two warring
camps

i pine for peace
in hill, river
and mangrove
swamp

the heifer lows
and its calf
gambols up
the river bank

the forest of hills
grows inscrutable
like our future

the green bee-eater
dives one last time
for an insect
and on a branch
breaks it into
pieces
crunch
crunch

the indian
cuckoo called              
from dawn
shadows lengthen
shadows lengthen

the cicadas
grow harsh
before they
hush
letting crickets
and frogs
resume
the ditty

the sunset blazes
behind the brow
of the hill
and stars dare
to appear
no longer
outshone

the stream snakes
towards the future
dimmer
darker

the magic
of a moonless
night
provokes
violence
and poetry

we too
O virgil
feel of the
military man 
who brings peace
that he is
the shadow of
divinity

zel Allah

 

All work is property of Iftekhar Sayeed.

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