"...I awaited Death's sweet knife
and bared my jugular vein
without fear, without dread,
I offered my dreams, I offered my joy,
I knew you, I knew you not,
Here, take me, cage me.
You silent Angel with a bittersweet sting,
I am afraid of your kiss no longer.
You, the winged reaper of souls,
I want to see you when you seize hold of my soul
and put it in a small cage
and fly with it to a place I know not where.
I want to see that golden sparrow that they say flies
from our noses as we depart this leprous life.
Come, my dread Angel,
Let us two dance under the cool shade,
The clouds above us dripping wet with moonlight,
The wind aches with the pain of ages,
And see how the misty night yet burns
with the glow of my fast fading soul..."*
©Rangzeb Hussain