The Innocent Flower

By Sheikh Shabir Kulgami

The innocent flower

Dancing in glee in the gutter;

Chuckling in clusters are the thorns like stars

Merrily, merrily they do meet

A sight to laugh at in a saintly pose

Alone, lovelorn thee sans the dew,

O, for a velvet bed the flower does sob!

A sea of venom rings it rough

Into the flower, the thorns do jab,

Though it bite never a palm,

Yet they bite it sans balm

Never the flower perishes; yet stays calm,

Ever it weathers the onslaught,

That they gift it after drinking the wealth

That it yields for them to feast upon.

By Sheikh Shabir Kulgami