An Ode to Life by Mubashir Noor

Mubashir Noor, an audio engineer from Islamabad, expresses his reaction to the current situation in a poem entitled, In the Life:

Bye, bye little bird
Its time to fly away
The harsh winter cares not of your wings,
I hope to see you again on groundhog day

Godspeed to you,
And donʼt crash into any planes
You donʼt have malintentions,
But our hospitals can only take so much strain

Tell them I said hi
Tell them weʼre doing well,
That weʼre hanging on
The threat is 60 miles away but weʼre not forlorn

The sun still rises from the east
The sky still holds true a blue hue
Sometimes the sirens will make yours ears bleed
But that’s something you get used to

The roads are still paved,
And weʼre still burning gasoline
We get by with little water,
Nowadays the blood seems to wash them clean

My brothers are off to war, theyʼre going to catch Satan
But I feel theyʼre going the wrong way
Satan lives in the hearts of men,
And those men call themselves politicians

So little bird,
Remember to choose your friends wisely
Kingmakers some might be,
But many are fire-starters

And a lit flame,
Cares not for alliances or partners
It scorches without discrimination,
The sinners and the righteous

Courtesy: CHUP