The Paradox of Summer and Sorrow

By Falak Fayaz Masoodi

The land underneath is always the same

Yet her mournful gaze holds scenes discrete

Anguish looms and seeps in the walls

The tarpaulin sags with the weight of it all

The veil conceals her scorn and contempt

With all she's borne, she can but lament

The grief, the relief, the animosity of clans

The pretence never ceases

Not even with demise

A macabre existence; of stolen breath 

Growing wise from sorrow and driving life from death

Lurking around the corner, her cruel companion beckons

With but a choice, she trudges on

She could have a different life,

Yet she keeps watch for torment

For rattling breaths and deathly gasps

For phantoms and their slow descent

She shudders with the relief of leave

Collapses with mournful ecstasy 

Of snow and drought is the flower born 

A pale lily her lone legacy

By Falak Fayaz Masoodi