Fragrance of My Soil
Fragrance of My Soil
For me
The clock had stopped
In the valley of Kashmir decades before.
Summers, Springs, Winters
Had changed their strings.
Cool breezes had changed
Into cyclones of struggles.
Innocence faced new harsh tests.
Scorching heat from rocky fields
Had poured new spices in life.
Bruised skins oozing salty sweat
Had quenched the thirst.
Eyes quite wide
Burnt throughout the nights.
Ah! Innocent minds were clouded
Confused, faintly frozen too.
Today
Suddenly after decades
A wind aroused
From far off lands of my valley;
Travelling miles and miles,
Here it knocked my door.
I was struck dumb.
What had it for me?
Striking
Was the fragrance of the soil
Tempting the grains, the delicacies!
My mind wandered back in those fields.
Millions of my body pores
Red fluid in my veins
Had a heavenly bath.
I felt a new life within me.
Was it that I was reborn?
Though
I have mastered
The changed circumstances
Yet the fragrance of the soil
Pierced me with a new fashion.
For a while
I turned into a teenager
And dared to dream those vast lands
Waving fields, cool breezes
With fragrance of saffron and daffodils,
Flowing waters , vast blue expanse
Dense pine forests.
With the wings of hope
And compassion my heart and soul
Flew in free airs.
They say
The poison has washed out
From the air, those flowing waters.
The grass has turned green.
Dense forests resound
The sounds of Nature.
New blossoms are blooming
With gentle dreams.
The new warmth is in the sun shine.
At this hour
I don't want to recollect
The pain, the hour when it began.
I believe in infinite future,
Enlightened mortals of flesh,
Conversion of lives,
As that is what in reality
Exists in this whole cosmos......