.
Years ago,
I found
a beautiful little firefly
and imprisoned it, in a cloth cap.
Bewitched,
I watched it for hours.
Next morning,
eager to see it shimmering again,
I opened the gates of his prison--
And found an ugly bug inside.
My ayah said,
come the night
he’ll shine again.
Our bahishti, the water-man, said
free him now,
he has been yours for a night.
Betrayed and dispossessed,
unable to accept
a single night’s connection,
I threw it on the cemented floor.
And quashed it
until it was no more
than a stain.
- Owais
--
This is first being published on this page.
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