I am a rain drop flopped down from the clouds
I could have landed in a river or the sea
Then merging with the rising and receding waves
I would have been washed down into oblivion

Or could have fallen from the heights
Into a desolate dreary desert
Amid the blistering granules of sand
To be absorbed into nothingness

Chances are there to have fallen on a rock
Lying scorched in the heat of the mid day sun
Then I would have vanished into thin air
Evaporating into non existence

I could have fallen into a muddy puddle
Or perhaps into a filthy drainage
To be contaminated with the sewage
Or be the breeding ground of worms and bugs

But fortunately for me
I happened to fall into fecund soil
Where there lay in wait a few seeds
Hankering for the cool touch of moisture

Arid souls desperately thirsting for water,
They ****** the molecules within me.
As their dry kernel got soaked and puffed,
Slowly they sprouted and grew into life.

Absorbing again the drops that came after me
They, into towering trees eventually grew
Some touching heaven’s azure heights
And giving shade and shelter to many

Now as I see them crested with flowers
And bearing clusters of luscious fruits
I feel I am there in each leaf and bud
And my essence flows through every vein!

As a teacher, what more is needed for me
To feel contented in life?

~
Each letter I laid
Has its own little voice,

And together they sing
To be heard by yours
.

Aimless people
Running through this city
Looking for a shelter
In someone's arms.
Desperate runners
Trying to escape from this maze
From those hideous, scared forms
They see in the mirrors at the stores.
Running from themselves
Escaping from reality
In an illusion of happiness
They always try to reach.
Navigating through the darkness
While they try to find
Any sigh of light.

I want
to scale the mountains,
to watch the sun set on their horizons,
to hide out in dense forests,
to run away into the wild,
to be as far away as possible
from these animals
called human beings.*

© Ali Qureshi