YESTERDAY* shines with the golden glow of memory,
Ah, how sweet indeed was love & life!*

TODAY struck the day with the mace of destiny,
O, how cruel thou art!

TOMORROW is yet to be unveiled,
Oh, how it excites and tingles with mystery & fresh hope!



©Rangzeb Hussain

On this, our day of rising
After the waves of pain,
In the dawn's light a chorus of birds
This melody of tears,
Rain cascades upon my face
Washes away my soul,
On this crossroad
They nailed a message,
Across the span of eternity
The eyes of readers rot with rust,
Hark and listen yet
To this my last song
On the lonely highway
Where you did ****** me,
Farewell my red flamed love,
On these shores of desolation
I have learnt to sink my knees
Into the sands of tears,
Remember me
In the silence of the hour.



©Rangzeb Hussain

Here, in this room,
In this place of weeping,
There is a whisper,
A yawn of dying dreams.

He never asked for mansions,
Or for grand banqueting halls,
He never asked for servants,
Or for a legion of suited waiters.

His Mother knew him,
His Child knew him,
His Maker knew him,
We don’t know him.

The sunlight fears to enter here,
Even the very air holds its breath,
The stench of another night purrs,
And no King will curl upon this pillow.

In a bed of infernal inhumanity,
Where cruelty corrodes into a life,
A lonely man is nightly crucified here,
The hymn of compassion snuffed out.

In the city the wealth runs rampant,
Suited power brokers spit and point,
A rat infested suite is not for them,
Their champagne and wines will flow on.

Remember,
The grave equals us all in the end,
That room fits King and Poor alike,
Fear the memory of what you did.

Give your ear to the voiceless,
Give your hand to the homeless,
Give your heart to the forgotten,
Give your life a moment to pause.

Whether you voted Red,
Or Blue,
Always love each other,
And stay true.

No matter what happens,
Stay united,
And love each other,
Be part of a shared humanity.

Hate has no place,
Reach out to the forgotten,
Talk to your neighbours,
Remove the fear of the foreign.

Know the dominion of the beasts,
For therein dwells the lurking hellspawn,
Let ravens pluck out mine eyes
As to the gallows tree I go,
Hang my dreaming head in disgrace,
Encase me in a jaded iron gibbet,
Forever let the creaking flutter through the bars of desolation,
Rip out this raging heart so false,
Shatter with heavy pincers my teeth of pure rot,
Be not so kind to this tongue which rasps a trail of saliva lies,
Nails long and hard strike like hammers sharp
Into me they please pin,
Pain, sweet burning pain,
True, the only truth, is pain of love,
Spikes clatter into me,
Come, all you there, slash my autumnal flesh,
Under skies of oblivion suicide leave me evermore,
Barking branches scaly with age, wrinkled hate,
To me they scratch and tear, waltz to this tune,
Oh, face old of mine, dance you now,
Noose knotted with stringy sweat wrapped with cold rope,
Sink this does into my wrists and neck of mossy meat,
The rope cuddles into my skin and settles down to rest,
Let my red rain splash out in rivulets,
Bones crippled beyond torture,
My tattered arms swing a limp jig with the fair wind,
Hairy evening shadows snarl towards me,
Eyes of this night search for eternal light,
Immortality lies in the trap of rats that by us sleep
Day to day, from mourn to grave and so to everlasting grief,
History is twisted by the fist of the stained victor,
Rose thorns round about me twine like barbed veins,
Pulses throb through my corrupted blood,
Dead is innocence, all defiled and exposed she lies,
Wasps of poison bury themselves into me,
I feel the gnawing of flies as they burrow through the tunnels of my lungs,
How truly sublime, I stretch here expiring
Whilst all over me life is transpiring in a cycle of vibrancy,
Here I am then, a human compost heap,
Care not I for honey rose vipers that spiral between my toes,
Larvae, slugs and speckled eggs are laid in my torn nose,
Wonder of hatching birth so soon by the harsh light
Of a baleful moon that keeps mute vigil as my soul is devoured,
Witness now how my spineless heap shall become fertile,
More use will I be as muddy earth than false flesh and ****** broth,
Never again shall I creep whilst the gentle grass whistles past,
Blind to this glory road of reborn voices was I once,
A natural symphony breezing colours never before beheld,
My ears only heard the cacophony of polluted *******,
Dead to courage was I, witless beyond scales of measure,
Fear eats the soul, gorges on it, wet lips digesting raw courage,
Not anymore for me this hateful way of retreat,
Hang my songs I say and be done with it, freedom wings await,
Make no more warm my corpse, let the blood chill to a standstill,
Darkness lights my ragged way, homeward bound nevermore,
Clenched concrete knuckles scrape my eyelids,
Still I bear witness to a sight fearful, wide open and blind,
Unfaithful heart once so wild and carefree, now trapped in my dead ribcage,
Release steps my way, but for you heart no escape,
Simple foolish beating muscle of mine once so proud now so helpless,
Rage against thy prison walls of meaty flesh,  
Thrash and pulse, throb your drumming tune no more,
Be at ease you tireless ***** player, music within me dies,
I shudder spasms of painful pangs, fluttering with the briny sea breeze,
Gulps of molten rust braze through my open windpipe,
Such tender tragedies do I endure,
Steep spires from dales near pierce my stricken ears,
Frozen worms of yesterday snuggle under decaying fingernails,
Fog whispers on the mournful barrows,
Nothing stirs near my dread place of execution,
Wrapped in autumn leaves I lie strung and swaying,
Indeed, it is me who is now part of the bark and weeds,
Plague snakes furrow into my hollow stomach, marching inwards,
Apples of late summer decompose against my winter body,
Sweetness denied to me, soul eater hungry with empty holes,
Blossom so pink and fragrant wafts through the gloom,
Seasons have become drunken and confused,
What once was Winter twists into Summer, Spring coils into Autumn,
Must come a time for a suicide of reckoning,
Life blood boils on the canvas,
Colours of the soul shrouded shades, chasms so far apart,
So short, so brief was my dream of idle days long gambled,
Dim distant that road now seems, behind over my crippled shoulders,
Stars burning with my final plight,
Fame never was my aim, cruel fate ensnared me in a vital grip,
All barren is the world of human rule, nothing but folly,
Let me curl in your boughs that by me lie, sleep eternal,
In these branches that now cradle me, gently rock my weary limbs,
Night winds brush my hair, worldly cares drip off me,
At this late hour, as I no more drift, away to forgetfulness I glide,
Bliss so smooth by me stands,
Stars so high are extinguished one by one, winking as they expire,
I will travel with them methinks,
To places unknown I shall go,
No fear accompanies me, I journey alone with millions alongside me,
The time of glow worms slides over my exhausted corpse,
Cosmic galaxies swiftly cloudy and milky,
Pastures filled with random harvests, biology and chemistry blend with whirling pace,
Be at ease now, I hover over solemn lands,
My sightless soul wings into the mouth of a mighty cave,
There she waits, a lady complete of cold,
This frost daughter welcomes me with fiery fingers,
Price of skin I pay, there the bargain is stroked in ink dipped from my iced veins,
I am reborn, and I see myself through my child’s eye,
I have no mouth yet I itch to scream,
Become have I now nothing more than a voiceless ice worm,
Remember me for one who never forgot,
Dreamy night with talons, ******* rusty blood,
Creaking skeleton mine, dust of ages now,
Islands in search of continents, drowned oceans sailing for thirst,
One speck of truth contains more fear than mighty deserts of water,
No sense in this, unreal rose, falsely it speaks of truth,
I waited by the portal of time, grew grey with age,
Yet still no sign of you at the gates,
Thou hast been sidetracked by the green-eyed serpent that yonder by you lies,
In the deep ravine valley of wailing desolation,
Mayhap we may truly exchange words, but it does not seem soon,
Still, here I scratch my wrinkled skin and grow old like a child,
Bury me in the graveyard of truth where eagles gorge on souls,
The ghost road will go ever on
And I will limp behind,
In front of me a long line of suicidal grief relief,
Behind me I see nothing but me,
Even my shadow has deserted and left for places less forlorn,
The moment has arrived for me to knock on coffin doors
And hear the songs of truth,
Come, join me, gather together,
Let us sleep eternal,
Death comes.



©Rangzeb Hussain

Autumn light,
It shines bright,
Look how it delights,
It showers and ignites.

Then...

In the blink of coming night
The bright light
Becomes twilight,
And we fade from life's sight.

The song of Freedom...
'tis the lyrical breath of life,
it flies over every land
speaking a language with a universal melody.
*Who dares to cage it?

In a world rotting with death,
Piled high with decay and mess,
In a land where flags are flesh,
Where the carrion crows fly,
The birds of Freedom die,
Their nests encrusted with lies,
Our Earth coughs and withers,
Our birds float on dead rivers,
Our nation with fear shivers.

For the Refugees who have lost their all,
For the Homeless who are abandoned,
For the Forsaken who have no one,
For the Voiceless who go unheard,
For the Loveless who grieve for trust,
For the Dead who perished in poverty's fire,
For the Orphans who dream no more,
For the Betrayed who died far from home,
For Humanity in a time of mass poison.

For those who never came back,
For those who were told fragrant lies,
For those who once dreamt of peace,
For those who sleep in forgotten soil,

For those who left behind fresh faced roses,
For those who waved away weeping mothers,
For those who sang the dying hymns of life,
For those who once farmed and tilled the land,

For those who slipped and fell in spiked ditches,
For those who danced with bayonets and bullets,
For those who serenaded the shrieking shells,
For those who drank and sank in slippery trenches,

For those whose bones bleach in desert dust,
For those whose blood and hopes were betrayed,
For those whose lives line the poppy and flags,
For those whose souls were sacrificed for us all,

*For them there is no today, only yesterday…

Love,
Humanity,
and Unity
is what our world weeps for,

Remember Hope,
Remember Peace,
Remember Compassion.

Art painted, art confined, art denied,
The skin of the canvas cages and congeals the art,
Colours more plumbed than the peacock of paradise,
Yet trapped and tossed about in stormy framed emotions.

In the end it all bleeds away,
The paint dries, decays, and dies,
Faint leaky lines leave behind faded memories,
Life’s canvas rusts on the ground in solemn silence.

Hark now! Unhinge your ears!

Hear now music flowing from elegant veins,
Listen to how the strings pulse and weave the notes,
Watch how the music flies free and completely unconfined,
Those butterfly melodies entwine and in the air flutter and swirl.

Their dance is the ecstasy of a nightingale’s song,
They sprinkle and circle round and round, up and down,
The music of the cello is love’s supple spine, smooth and sensual,
Hear it, inhale it, caress it, sway with it, and be at ease and free with it.

And darkness rained down at noon,
On the hill the sun drowned in the darkness,
The shadows of three crosses fluttered on the blood scarred sand,

Guards kept watch with eyes laced with the poison of ignorance,
The anvils of grief hammered in the hearts of the believers,
Their day of deliverance lay shrouded in lamentations for their Savior,

The wind wiped the blood and caressed the foot of the King of Kings,
High on the hills of the valley the noon skies shuddered,
And from the clouds at the gates of heaven a raindrop fell,

Death died on that day,
Life immortal was born on that day,
Love and peace were blessed on that day.

When things go wrong…

We cast blame,
We heap accusations,
We shovel suspicion,
We hurl abuse,
We point fingers,
We spit doubt.

Oh God, why war?
Oh God, why ******?
Oh God, why famine?
Oh God, why sickness?
Oh God, why poverty?
Oh God, why injustice?

When things work out…

We award ourselves,
We praise ourselves,
We celebrate ourselves,
We toast ourselves,
We pat ourselves,
We acknowledge ourselves.

I did it,
I did it all,
I did this,
I did that,
I did,
I did.

Did you, really?

We are richer than we know,
and still blind to our wealth,
Remember this,
not all wealth can be held,
measured, or felt by human hands.

There is some wealth
richer than all of that.
It glows right before you.
Reach out with the mind's eye,
And place the treasure in your heart.

For those who are gone,
They shall live on in our words,

Their songs will sing ever on,
And in dreams they still walk with us,

Sleep now sweet soul,
Sleep.

Farewell, sweet soul,
Good bye,

No more the music of your voice,
No more the sparkle in your eyes,

A void, an abyss,
There is a chasm of grief,

And one day, one bright day,
All darkness shall be no more,

And on that day,
On that day we shall dance again,

For now, the days of silence are here,
Good bye.

He flew to our shores on the back of a black iron bird,
Immigration stamped him through on a student visa,
His mother’s kiss still lingered upon the lips of memory,
To Sheffield he came waving away Sri Lankan tears.

Life was hard, life was sleepless, life was unrelenting,
To eat his daily bread he worked long into the dread night,
By day he studied English knowledge inked in books old,
And by the arrival of twilight he delivered steaming dreams.

Every day, every single day, by the light of day, he spoke,
He spoke to his beloved mother so far away across oceans,
They had a bond true and deep, a mother and her beloved son,
But wings wet with evil were flapping closer and closer…

On the night before the Eve of All Hallows the darkness came,
As he drove through a wet night on the last shift of his job,
As he went to deliver his final aromatic pizza of the evening,
That’s when the demons of ignorance stabbed away his hopes.

They came from an infernal zone and they sliced through him,
The silent angels watched with horror stitched in their sockets,
His liquid life ebbed away at the coffin wheel of his delivery car,
The cold October moon wept milky light upon the warm blood.

The media ravens will label him  ‘this’ and  ‘that’ and the  ‘other’,
And soon, all too soon, his name will melt into memory’s mist,
His name was Thavisha Lakindu Peiris and his life sings no more,
Under Halloween’s one eyed moon a soul kneels for justice.

O, my Beloved, Lord of Mercy and Life,
Give our world peace and sweet unity,

We have seen the men of war and chaos,
They fly the words of hate and division,

We shall not dance to their volcanic thunder,
In a room of colour and memories find peace,

Close your eyes and dance with your soul,
In a darkening world find the light of life.

Note:*
This poem is inspired by the words of my beloved Mother. I continue to miss her and ache to hear her voice once more. I know one day we shall be reunited in a world without pain...

Heart of God

“Remember well, my son…
For the Almighty all-knowing God
does not live in
the bricks, cement or the timber sticks of

a temple,
a mosque,
or a church,
nor a synagogue,

The abode of God is in the heart of every
man,
woman
and child upon this emerald earth,

This was one amongst the many gifts
He bestowed upon us.
Therefore,
Be soft and gentle, and remember…*

Never break the heart of another,
For when you cause hurt in a heart,
That is when there is a ripple
in the palace of paradise where resides the one true God of All.

Love yourself,
Love others,
Love the most Merciful
and love one and all.

Remember too one more thing,
Leave those you meet
with a smile playing upon their lips and lives
and smiles singing in the chambers of their hearts too…”

Say...

There is one God,
There is none like unto Him,
For He is the Light
of the heavenly Glory,
All-knowing, all wise,
The Eternal
and Most High is He,
To Him do we turn in praise,
To Him do we seek salvation,
He is the beautiful Beloved,
The divine Creator
of the joy of life.

Say...

There is no God
but the One true God,
It is His love that beats richly
in all searching souls,
He is the One and Only,
No partners does He have,
He is the Life immortal,
His is the name sweetly sung
in the early morning dew,
He is the ever loving God,
The most Beneficent
and most Merciful.

Say...*

God is great!

Her hair,* *like the rich red fruits of autumn,

Her ears, like the curled fountains that tantalize all the senses,

Her eyes, like the jewels that sparkle in fresh water,

Her nose, like the pearl found in the depths of the blue River Rhine,

Her lips, like the wings of a rainbow butterfly,

Her voice, like the lilt of the magic Celtic harp,

Her neck, like the long sweet swan of Lohengrin,

Her arms, like the bronze Amazonian champions of older days,

Her fingers, like the warm hues of the golden Sahara,

Her *******, like the tangerines from the Roman past,

Her hips, like the abundant curves of the Serengeti's acacia,

Her thighs, like the entrance into the lush kingdom of the Pharaohs,

Her calves, like the delicate wax from the heights of Mount Atlas,

Her feet, like the supple honey from the tree of life,

Her name, like the silent knell of death on a bright summer's night.



©Rangzeb Hussain

High up on a summer's day three roses did fly,
Each rose woven with a prayer for humanity,
Three roses, three dreams, three wishes,

First, a prayer of unity for the broken nations,
Second, a prayer of peace for a world polluted by war,
Third, a prayer of love for one and all,

The red maiden, summer's dazzling light,
She dances and sails on a sea of green,
A living and radiant flower.

Never leave for tomorrow
what you should have said today,
Time is merciless,

Sometimes, in the way of the world,

We lose track of the priorities,
We lose track of loved ones,
We lose the very thing which makes us smile.

Loss of love teaches us,

One day,
And that day will come,
You too will sit back and remember.

A homeless man,
living in a rotting factory,
found a limping crow,
crawling on the road,
about to be crushed
under the wheels of a car,

The man ran into the road
and saved the bird,

He got some water,
and he found some straw,
and he built a nest,
and bought some seeds,

In a crushed world
where animals and birds
are shot for man's mad sport,
the tale of a homeless man
saving a bird
gives the human race
hope for redemption.

If some Mother could see this now,
And know that her child slept here,
In a tight shed of death and decay,
What would she say?
How would you answer her tears?
Would you dare to meet her gaze?

This is a place of eternal sleeping,
Of wrapping dreams in asbestos,
Cockroaches and leeches reign here,
Those who weep here are ghosts,
The fingerprint of torture marks them,
They have no name, only merciless pain.

Through the window a waxy light leaks in,
Casting wispy streaks across a damp floor,
Each step squelching on the moist moss,
The air is stained with invisible cancer,
This is a cell where Death throws his dice,
The squares of life are fragmented here.

*** ends, broken bottles, needles, empty cans,
Torn rags, and shoes with holes and no laces,
Peeling plaster, and electrical veins exposed,
Razor blades clogged with bloodied hair,
Hope, broken and cracked, smoked and gone,
Fear lurks in every corner, all teeth and claws.

Four claustrophobic walls, doors crushing in,
Held together with the glue of desperation,
This is a house, a bed, a self-made coffin,
No radiators of home and comfort here,
No hope, no form, no fixed abode, no nothing,
They who snuggle here are by poverty ravaged.

Still, through the bitter hunger,
Through the dirt and the daily thirst,
Through the headline of stagnant lies,
Upon the table something yet shines,
In a world of black and white,
The colour of Truth brightly shines.

Whoever you are,
Whatever race or faith,
Regardless of nation or borders,

Remember this:

WE
ARE
ONE.

So…

You see me,
You judge me,
You pity me,
You forsake me.

You burgled me,
You marked me,
You left me,
You forgot me.

*I stand alone no more…

I stand tall,
I stand high,
I stand silent,
I stand still.

I walk with friends,
I walk with truth,
I walk past the lies,
I walk to freedom.

I have seen our garden after Eden,
I have felt the change in the climate,
I have tasted the warm summer rain,
I have ploughed your perfumed harvest upon a moonlit evening.

I still rummage through the memory of autumn,
I still yearn to **** out the crease in your silken garments,
I still feel your heartbeat fluttering in the breeze of the hummingbird’s wings,
I still irrigate my life with your tears that will forever sting.

I can taste your fragrance in the seeds of spring,
I can close my eyes and pollinate my mind with your dreams,
I can reach out and plant a kiss on the silhouette of your fingertips,
I can still see the faint trace of your fertile footprint.

I want to thaw out the winter from my weeping bones,
I want to cast aside the sad saturated memory stones,
I want to hear the melody that we wrote with our warm souls,
I want to be where you are in the land where cold souls grow old.


©Rangzeb Hussain

In the halo of a secluded summer's stone,
A hush,
A stillness under the shade of slumbering trees,

This was life, living and breathing,
Singing too,
Now, only the weeping silence,

A name etched upon a fading headstone,
Fingerprints and memories withered away,
Upon the summer's light it still glimmers,

Nature's tender embrace soothes broken stone,
Curling and wiping away the past,
Death shall never darken the songs of life.

In a world abandoned to darkness I shall be a light,
My dance will burn brightly before the setting of the sun,

Rust and decay litter this forgotten stage of the world,
My dance shall glitter on the pathways of humanity,

I shall bow down to no fear, no hate, no violence,
My dance rises to realms few dare to contemplate.

From fresh green fields,
To the decaying arches of times,
Every place of solitude is a stage,
Dance and swirl with your soul,
Ink your delicate steps and compose,
Write a symphony woven with stars.

From the heights of freedom's songs,
Seated upon a throne crafted by time,

The plague of war wasting away nations,
Through this darkness a glimmer of light,

The Beloved's uncaged domain,
Solitude breathes over the soul,

A bird sang and a song was heard,
The delicate music so still and lyrical,

Peace was the precious melody,
Glittering unity for one and all.

Those dark orbs, in them floats a universe of light,
Regions unexplored, spaces where light flourishes,

Those who dare to play in the darkest of places,
To them belongs the treasures of life’s purest light,

Each soul will taste the fragrance of the unseen,
Their lips will sing the hymns of immortality.

The season of light,
Of blue skies
And yellow curved flowers,

Let no one bring darkness
Or dread lies to the world,
Their war of words consumes mercy,

Smile and unite in times of hate,
Stand proudly with a shared humanity,
Make the music that ignites the soul.