April Sprinkles
by SAMEER BHAT
On human rights violations in Kashmir
Rain — cold small beads
come slanting down
on Zero Bridge,
upon old waters that flow beneath
Wet almond blossom
in night-long showers
scattered in bolshie gardens by the Dal
stamped upon by everyday ghosts
Bloodshot glower in black skies
Men in sand-bags with sad, cold eyes
Spring showers upon ugly bayonets
early rain on parched souls
Moist, hidden graves in deep, distant woods
under damp raspberry trees
Dead sleep in rain-swept dark
the undead roll in stone homes
Rain spatter on familiar roofs
Rainy sounds like idle words
Rain-color puddles on the boulevard
No rain songs to live it up
To My Old Bed
by SAMEER BHAT
I smell wild wood trees
possessed by buccaneers and bulbuls
criss-crossing each other
along heaving paths
I see bee-eaters, their iridescent wings
like violin bows upon the track
fringed with tall pines
like sharp arcs into blue Eden
I hear sounds being chargrilled
in the timberland, so green
surrounded with dug-outs
as deep as war sorrows
I walk into my vale
self-same over the years
cacophonous and comforting
if only to fall happily
into my old bed
One More
by SAMEER BHAT
One more smokestack is smokeless tonight
one more child put six feet under
One more mother is wringing her hands
one more son is inhumed tonight
One more joy is trampled upon
one more lad is overhung tonight
One more bullet to the heart
one more woeful home tonight
One more sombre evening
one more starless sky tonight
Sameer Bhat is a journalist and lives in Dubai. One of Kashmir’s most widely read bloggers, his short stories and satirical writings have appeared in leading English dailies. Sameer’s recent contributions include an anthology Until My Freedom Has Come – The New Intifada in Kashmir(published by Penguin Books India). An avid blogger, Sameer has been keeping a popular blog ‘Kashur Kot’ [Kashmiri lad] for the last 10 years and regularly comments on the Kashmir conflict from a satirist’s perspective. www.sameerbhat.blogspot.com is mostly liberal and laidback with a dash of sarcasm.
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