Agha Shahid Ali | I See Kashmir From New Delhi At Midnight

I See Kashmir From New Delhi At Midnight, this beautiful poem is taken from Agha Shahid Ali's book The Country Without A Post Office.
One must wear jeweled ice in dry plains
to will the distant mountains to glass.
The city from where no news can come
is now so visible in its curfewed night
that the worst is precise:
From Zero Bridge
a shadow chased by searchlights is running
away to find its body. On the edge
of the Cantonment, where Gupkar Road ends,
it shrinks almost into nothing, is
nothing by Interrogation gates
so it can slip, unseen, into the cells:
Drippings from a suspended burning tire
are falling on the back of a prisoner,
the naked boy screaming, “I know nothing.”
2
The shadow slips out, beckons Console Me,
and somehow there, across five hundred miles,
I’m sheened in moonlight, in emptied Srinagar,
but without any assurance for him.
On Residency Road, by Mir Pan House,
undheard we speak: “I know those words by heart
(you once said them by chance): In autumn
when the wind blows sheer ice, the chinar leaves
fall in clusters-
one by one, otherwise.”
“Rizwan, it’s you, Rizwan, it’s you,” I cry out
as he steps closer, the sleeves of his phiren torn.
“Each night put Kashmir in your dreams,” he says,
then touches me, his hands crusted with snow,
whispers, “I have been cold a long, long time.”
3
“Don’t tell my father I have died,” he says,
and I follow him through blood on the road
and hundreds of pairs of shoes the mourners
left behind, as they ran from the funeral,
victims of the firing. From windows we hear
grieving mothers, and snow begins to fall
on us, like ash. Black on edges of flames,
it cannot extinguish the neighborhoods,
the homes set ablze by midnight soldiers.
Kashmir is burning:
By that dazzling light
we see men removing statues from temples.
We beg them, “Who will protect us if you leave?”
They don’t answer, they just disappear
on the road to the plains, clutching the gods.
4
I won’t tell your father you have died, Rizwan,
but where has your shadow fallen, like cloth
on the tomb of which saint, or the body
of which unburied boy in the mountains,
bullet-torn, like you, his blood sheer rubies
on Himalayan snow?
I’ve tied a knot
with green thread at Shah Hamdan, to be
untied only when the atrocities
are stunned by your jeweled return, but no news
escapes the curfew, nothing of your shadow,
and I’m back, five hundred miles, taking off
my ice, the mountains granite again as I see
men coming from those Abodes of Snow
with gods asleep like children in their arms.
(for Molvi Abdul Hai)

[@emanuelsvedin9404]

I posted a while ago I read a lot of poetry
And haw bin for many years. I’m from Stockholm my wife is in New York. And you way of reading this is amazing. I listen to it weekly. It’s truly a master work. Today I was on my way home from work in Stockholm all in snow listening to this. Thanks again

[@annumrashid754]

Wow!

[@shahi6591]

While my morning newspaper and social media feeds are bursting with the hysteria of revenge in the aftermath of pulwama attack. Meanwhile, In New Delhi I come to seek comfort in your voice.

[@newdayparty5435]

What pulwam attack

[@amirshafi9761]

You have soothing and magical voice

[@neethugeorge.6953]

Uh u r voice is divine!

[@ritus.9651]

So beautifully read out. And so very poignant today.

[@thebrownimg]

Amazing... stunned...was v passionate abt poetry when in high school...now well into the final year of medical school and I have heard poetry for the ist time in these five years...and what a treat to listen to you!!!

[@KashmirandMe]

Thank you so much :)

[@aadilbhat2689]

@@KashmirandMe Bahi can U suggest me Aga Shahid Ali'sBook to read as begineer(10th class student)

[@sanchitkoul4284]

Amazing recitation brother.

[@kararhussain3935]

Stunned and resonant voice.
Pronunciation is superb🧡

[@adventurebeing]

wow!

[@advaitham98]

Soulful recitation..❤️

[@sk-oq9ez]

Please make more recitation videos pleaseeee

[@opoouser6890]

Wowww..such soothing voice....i mean so serene

[@nilimadas158]

your voice is so touching

[@ibtisamlone7047]

It wouldn't be more perfect❤️ looking forward to see more from you!

[@munmunrudra2175]

Fantastic, mesmerizing

[@DrMe-jl3sk]

Kashmir ❤😭

[@wasifilahi]

Take those onions outside 😭😭

[@syedadil4844]

Is it your voice over.??? ❤

[@KashmirandMe]

Yes, hope you liked the recitation :)