So aged he is, but still so zealous for his job.
It feels like he has only known his rickshaw.
The ancient bard in him tells Punjabi poems.
He belies his wrinkles as he pedals his ride.
Just putting to shame his fellow rickshaw pullers.
None remembers or even cares to know his name.
He just pedals and remembers his deceased wife.

He told me a Punjabi tale of partition...

"We were really happy when it happened,
I was 16 and married to my beautiful wife,
But then he pressed for a separate Pakistan,
Just so much wicked was this demand of his,
Punjab was alight due to some people's doing,
We were to cross river Ravi en route to Amritsar,
In Lahore my childhood home was burnt to ashes,
My beautiful wife was still so young at that time,
She was ***** on the banks of river Ravi & killed,
In no cloth was she draped as they burnt her body,
After pouring whiskey all over her lifeless body."

His voice broke and a stream of tears escaped,
Down his eyes they flowed like the river Ravi,
"In front of my two eyes the men had ***** her,
Her mistake? Looking at them once & smiling,
Sin as great to be punished by such brutal drab?
What God, Ishwar or Allah did they follow?
I have known all & none advocates ****,
To which parents could they born?
Must be the devil & the witch."

By now his nose was red and his sobs audible.
He said, "She was not just *****, she was also killed,"
The ancient rickshaw puller gasped for breath as he said,
"Would the high heavens thank them for killing my wife,
She was a Hindu and an idolater with my mangalsootra,
Why they spared my life I have no idea but just remorse,
Will their Allah or God spare them on Doomsday?"

==============

I don't believe in any of the world religions because I have different views about Ishwar/Rabb/God.

All My Pain Disappears.
When I see her coming in my thoughts.

Yes the young one is my Ishwar.
She is my Rabb.
She is my God.

She is my sole belief.
Lives in my mind's peaceful region.
She is like a coral reef.
I live in her heart considering her my religion.

She is my soul's relief.
From all these daily worries & tensions.
She is very young friend.
Somebody as young as the new blossoms.
She scents up my days & nights alike.

She is like my child.
Six years & nine months younger female me.
She is my love.
Happy I am & happily I suffer the pain.
She doesn't let my smile fade.

She is my poetry.
Most of my poems come out in her name these days.
She is my divine peace.
Her coming to my life is the brightest opportunity to me.
She inspired me to adopt poetry as my religion.
Her presence gives a meaning to my otherwise meaningless life.
She smiles a very contagious smile I imagine very clearly.

Laut aai wo khushi phir se,
Pyar karne laga hoon main tumhe dil se,
Kardoo apne in labjo se teri tarif,
Kho jaun teri yaadon me,
Mangloo tujhe main us rab se,

Mere dil ko talash hai teri,
nahi ji'h sakta main tere bina,
Kyoki tum sans ** meri,
Teri suni sapno ko bhi hasin banayenge hum,
Kyoki tum to jahan ** meri,

Chum loo tere in khubsurat othon ko
likh doo apne dil pe tera naam,
Bna loo tujhe hamsafar apni
** jaun tere ishq me badnaam,
Nikale dua teri khushi ke liye mere rag-rag se,
kah do ekbar mujhse
Pyar karte hain hum bhi aapko dil se,
dil se........