My Lord of different names!
You are the One and Only –
Who can erase our ‘collective’ suffering.
There is none other than You:
Known as Allah, Ishwar, Rab, Almighty –
Who can relieve us of our pain.

 

I cannot for the life of me!
Pass over our prevailing times…
Unquenchable! are the fires of wrath.
My anguished pen is speechless,
In the face of fear and uncertainty.

 

Time after time –
Nature’s vastness is being demolished.
Nations have gone mad.
People have lost respect and love.
What can call forth our pledges to You?

 

My Lord!
Bring the right ‘change’ in our hearts:
You alone have all the powers!
To make us more understanding
Of each others’ woes.

 

The pitched battles raise Your name –
In words which come out from swords, tanks.
There are ariel bombings –
On human settlements:
Recalling greater movements of hatred.

 

Around the debris, in the cradle of sleep,
Babies perish for the sake of uselessness.
Mothers gather: to mourn silently.
Fathers like the scared bird
Without wings, shudder in shock.

 

My Lord of different names!
You are the One and Only –
Who can erase our ‘collective’ suffering.
There is none other than You:
Known as Allah, Ishwar, Rab, Almighty.

 

My Lord!
Forge the path of fresh reasoning for us.
I pray! Some day –
Soldiers and poets will unite
To be eternal bastions of peace!

 

I pray…
In their wisdom –
Soldiers and poets will re-write:
The history of our world.
I wish, they, at all times can bring harmony.

 

My Lord of different names!
You are the One and Only –
Who can erase our ‘collective’ suffering.
There is none other than You:
Known as Allah, Ishwar, Rab, Almighty –
Who can relieve us of our pain.

 

Dubai

9th February 2015

                          

Geeta Chhabra