Us Before You

By Raashid Naqib

And when you will need somebody to be there

When the pomp and glory, slowly, fades away

Like living in a dream; not meant to be realized

Darling, I will be here, singing; I love you

Words mean a lot to some and nothing to all others

When I’ll be leaving; you should know that there goes my day

My Sun, my Moon, my lonely star, I wish, you to be near

A thousand miles afar you are; in here, I found the decay

Time is rotting the bone; the letter elevates the pain

I am a sufferer in my life; your memory, it is not you

I place my Soul in your palms; go easy, if I fail

I am unaware and feel dejected; one plus one is not always true

To take the leap of faith; is to welcome the trouble, danger

I conferred with the night, after which, I was bid a cold adieu

I’ve forgiven them all; the one who wedges the wall

In between us is something that when named, leaves you

Love, my love, is a man’s joke upon the reality that he endears

I wish to be something more; for, no one else and only you

If I am the treacherous rot; the vilest and a coward

Then, I am not a human being and I’ve lied to myself too.

So, listen when I write to you, my story in my own words

I could not be for you anyone, for I am one and not two

When you understand what I have told you

Why do you still behave like I am there not for you?

Fair enough! Let’s call it what it is; nothing but a ruse

You had your game with my sentiment; bon voyage, yes, I am leaving you

Oh! World, listen to I, for, love alone love is no guarantee

They want what they cannot have; and do you have that on you?

Peoples’ life should feel different just by you being there with them

To be humble, my ego, is to accept that God in each moment exceeds you

He writes the knowledge; this one, the sort rumored to be only in the Lost Book

Come, let’s read him again; let’s hear what he’ll sayeth now unto you

The heart is a hermit; today, living his days, in a far away cave

How is the city, I wonder; in there, the walls, do they still haunt you?

Been kin to the Queen, been one with the traitor after, been it all; one thought at a time

Dream the blessed ivory filed; where to lust is not any sin

Ah! You went astray with your rhyme; we’ve you, red-handed

Hide not thy face; you are not anybody that deserves your name

Some call it a pencil; broken, others a clogged flute

When the lead enters the brain; you know not of this ecstasy that I feel

What is a critic, if not a leech upon the marrow of the slow suicide?

I wish to live; I want more hunger, torture, pain and death

Misery is the true ally; when all the other have fled the battle-field

I encompass my blood entire; the blade is broken nigh to my flesh

We return; undefeated, the evil fought for ages and lost to us

We’ve never conceded an iota; our North Star is thy maiden name

Swift; flock to wish death upon I, for, I’ve stated my truth in person

Silence! Fools; the Poet speaks, let him sing our high praise

Compassion cures the destiny’s wound, and ego is the enemy forever

We’ve preached and not practiced ourselves, the wisdom that we profess to teach

Ever forlorn! I roam the desert unafraid of the Sun, the agony

I’ve pushed myself up against the wall that cuts through my heart; mercilessly

Wish I did not exist, ever, alas! I am no different than I

Could’ve been a lot someday; of that I am the most certain

Failure, my abject friend; why should you ever feel deserted

I’ll accompany you for life; do not worry when I am still here, with you

To, ever sing the most cautious song; is to confess to being heedless, deaf, dumb, and mute

For, anyone who believes in the Oneness of God; of any place never felt the lesser one

Yes, it is true; her hands are mine and her hair too

The space wants a different ending to befall upon us; but, ah! the calamity that never strikes

By Raashid Naqib