The Land Of Smiles

By Sheikh Shabir Kulgami

The Land of Smiles

All I see is a sea of smiling faces;

All I see is a rain of unclean hands

Heads are as soft as steel bars:

Hearts are as soft as stones

Honey they do talk, honey they do walk

And money they cry; money they hate not

Oh, they bite the hand that feeds!

Who are they? Who are they?

A chameleon would not know

Indeed light is evil and evil is light for them

While their fangs and swords are their treasure,

We and they are the banks of the Jhelum

And who’ll see them in marriage

Elephants can fly? That is a mirage,

Hounds may have velvet hands

Yet they appear in man’s shape

Out we are ne’er from the shackles

Out of sight O! Thee strangers

Venom has blinded them beyond compare

Slaves of darkness will sink too deep

Dogs they hobble but foxes really reap

And blood they suck, yet pass as saints

Passion for the transitory is a bottomless pit,

Rich in faces in a holy façade;

The path to riches is no fear.

By Sheikh Shabir Kulgami