World In The Wilderness

World in the wilderness Midnight and pensive I lay on a river bank, Murky sky and stars twinkling in airs dank, Not a stir, neither a whiff nor a leaf moved, A subtle charisma and incredibly approved! My sleepless night and I tossed side to side, Gazing above at somber skies far and wide, A tryst, me and silence ah none was around, An unknown destination! Voyages inbound. Rivers surged along but a sound never made, Streams rolled along but a jingle never made, Birds dashed around ah a melody never sang, Stillness pitched to lull the clarion and clang. Wakeful and hushed I lay in engaging unrest, Akin to a soothed babe on its mother’s breast, Passions’ swell and drop with qualms fraught, Eager to hear my breath but I heard it naught! A little goblet but infinite its expanse boomed, Paradoxical! The infinite within finite roomed, And with an amazing grace ’twas free of fears, A wreck lost like me; I’ve discovered my dears. A shudder ran to my frame down, I were blind, But darted my gaze over a world of subtle kind, To world of abstractness I were hastily betaken, Wherein I strode free, the corporeality forsaken! Ask me not; ’cause there’s no answer to make, In wilderness I’ve experienced an awful shake, I’ve heard the unheard and viewed the unseen, I’ve sieved the chaste from grimy and unclean. My cellar in the wilderness glazed and white! Painted silvery bright with the eternity’s light, As the scintilla sparkle in their ceaseless flow, At the end of its infinite expanse there’s glow. I’ve abandoned the world’s rumble and bustle, Resting serene neath the bower’s sweet rustle, In my scented vault sweet whispers I’ve heard. “Eternal vision’s bestowed” as my soul stirred.

By Dr Riaz Ahmad Raja November 17, 2005