Message of the Storm

Poems

Of

Revolution & Love

By

Arif Viqar

 

Readers

My poems and verses
Are a mirror
Of your country's well being
Beware, that you don't
Break this mirror
With the reflection
Of your inner guilt
For you are the guiltiest
Of them all
For the poverty of your country
You, who can read
And understand the meanings
Of my poems

 

 

Message of the Storm

Waves of the sea
Carry the message
Of the storm
Unequal pressure builds
Up the storm
Rich and poor
Are the two ends
Of that storm
Bigger the gap
Between the rich
And the poor
The bigger will be the storm
The harsher the rule
The gentler will be the heart
Of that storm
In the eye of the hurricane
Lies the gentleness of the storm
Stronger than the strength
Of the strong
Is the strength of that storm
The bigger the gap
Between the rich
And the poor
The bigger will be the reforms
In inequality lies the tensions
Of the storm
In our weakness
Lies the strength
Of the strong

 

 

Che Guevara Once Said

With one stroke
We will change the realities
Of the materialistic world
After the revolution
We will rebuild
This shattered world
One of these days
We will die for this world
From each death
Thousand revolutionaries
Will be born in this world
Free world will emerge
From many a revolutions
In different parts of this world
Many a men will die
For the cause of freedom
In different parts of this world
Like a storm we will batter the walls
Of this materialistic world
Like the flowers we will embrace
The thorns of this revolutionary world
Like a desert that waits for the rain
We will wait
For freedom in this world
Who knows if we will meet again
Comrades free like this
In this world
The next day he died
Fighting for freedom in this world

 

 

Bhutto's Hanging

The bets were placed
The dice rolled
Heads rolled

And there stands
The empty, vacant casino
A living testimony
Of our defeat

The ship of our dreams
That once sailed
The seas
Lies stranded, broken
On the shores
Of the sea

Saying to the world
Yes, I have lost
To the sea

The shores
That were once
Filled with people
Lie deserted, waiting

The country weeps
The sea cries
Our eyes weep
For they all
Still remember thee

The sun
That once shined
So bright
High up in the sky
Is now going down
Slowly forever
On a dream

 

 

After The Vote

Hands, names and faces
Only change
Guns and bullets they remain
Colors of the sail
Red, White, Green, yellow
Or stripes and stars imported
Can the ideology, religion
Of East and West
Color of the flag
Change the fate
Of a nation that begs
That exchanges it's freedom
For aid
Empty handed, they remain
Beggars to beg
Are the winners, the losers
The rowers, the rulers of that ship
Laden with it's cargo, of poverty and chains
Promises of a promised land
Rats of all sizes, colors and shapes
Aboard that ship, it sails

 

 

Third World

The First World
The Super Powers
The former colonial
Rulers of the world
Create tensions
A state of perpetual
No war, no peace
In this world
Planned poverty
Backwardness
Is planned
For the Third World
The First World prospers
By selling guns and ammunition
And Mercedes
To the leaders
Of the Third World
Where the majority
Of the people
Remains backward
What a good setup
For the First World
Where it keeps getting richer
On the expense
Of the rest of the world
The deaths and poverty
The backwardness
Of the Third World

 

 

Defense Housing Society

Old hags
Of the aristocracy of the past
You can get my wishes
But you will not get my warmth
You can get my salam
But you will not get my respect
You sit in your dream world
Castles and houses of the defense
Built on the dreams
Of the masses and the rest
Have your eyes gone blind with time
Just like your hearts
That have gone cold with time
Can't you see the clouds on the horizon
Can't you feel the coming of the storm
The silence before the great eruption
For I can see
Your dream world shattering to pieces
Your days are at hand
But you can't see the writing of my hand
Just like you can't see the cries
Suffering and the blood
Of the people of your land
The end is at hand
A new way
A new ray
A new hope
A new day is at hand
But you still sit
In the dream world of your illusions
Wishing and thinking
That the rest of the world will go away
And leave you in your dream world
So you can dream your life away
On the expense of the rest
Of the people of your land

 

 

Agenda For The Next Elections

The party
That puts forward
The following
Three points agenda
For the next elections
Will win the elections

Number one
End of feudalism
Land reforms
Giving the land to the people
Who work on the land
Pakistan is an agriculturist country
Giving back the agriculturist land
Back to the people

Number two
End of the army
As we know of the army
No paid, mercenary army
But a voluntary
People's army
Where the whole country
Is the standing army
In case of war
The whole country fights
For the defense
Of the country

Number three
End of all imports
Relying on the country's
Own resources
Self sufficiency
Self reliance
Making every thing that you need
Within your own country

 

 

Muraba's Revolution

Muraba
Is more land
That you have
Than in which
You can be buried in
When you die
Benazir have muraba's
Nawaz Sharif have muraba's
The feudal lords have muraba's
The capitalists have muraba's
The generals have muraba's
The MNA's have muraba's
The senators have muraba's
The corrupt bureaucrats have muraba's
In Pakistan the man
Who tills the land
The man
Who sows the seeds
The man who works
At the land
Is landless
The majority
Are the landless peasants
The majority are poor
The majority are helpless
The majority are uneducated
People of Pakistan
In an agricultural country
What we need is land reforms
Taking the land away from the few feudal
And giving the land to the majority poor
Land reforms is the need of the hour
In the country

(A muraba is twenty five acres of land)

 

 

Neo-Colonialism

Ruling
Of the rulers
The leaders
Of the East
By the West

Bribing
Of the rulers
The leaders
Of the East
By the West

Buying off
Of the rulers
The leaders
Of the East
By the West

The Army
Is there
To protect
The rulers
The leaders
Of the East

The army
Is armed
By the West
To maintain
The status quo
Protect the rulers
The leaders
Of the East
By the West

Through the rulers
Of the East
The West rules
The rest
The majority
Who buys products
Imported from the West

Poverty stricken
Slave labor
Is provided
By the East
To make cheap products
For the West

Neo-Colonialism
The new face
Where the rulers
The leaders
Of the East
Are ruled
Are bribed
Are bought
By the rulers
Of the West

The army is there
To protect the interest
Of the West
With the guns
Bought from the West

The new face of colonialism
Where the minority
Ruled by the West
Rules the majority
The poor
Of the East

 

 

The People's Party Is Over

The sword is rusted
The arms are tied
The spirit is tired
The beauty has burnt
The dying embers of the flame
Reminds of the people's party
That is over
The tables are empty
The food has been eaten
The vaults are all empty
The economy has gone towards bankruptcy
So the payment is now in flesh and blood
The doves have all been eaten up
By the hawks
For the tables have been turned
Upside down on freedom
But we still go on slaving and praying
For we still have to feed our family
For they are still hungry
We have to feed them blood and money
For the tables are all empty
For the peoples party is now over
The food have all been eaten
By eighty million people
Who are still hungry

 

 

Unequal Society

If you don't
Have the yard stick
To measure
The poverty

Then you have
No poverty
You have
A classless society
Within a country

If you don't
Have any one
Exploiting
The masses the majority
You have an equality
A classless society

It is the uneven parity
The inequality
Between the minority
And the majority

Where a few
Become rich
On the expense
Of the majority
The poverty of the majority
That you have
Classes
The rich and the poor
An unequal society

 

 

Your Leaders

One who has
Never stepped
Been wet
In the water
Can he really
Swim in the water

One who has
Never been hungry
Can he ever know
What it's like
To be hungry

One who is rich
Has never been
Without money
Can he ever know
What it's like
To be poor, hungry
Without money

Can the rich
Feudal Land Lords
The ones with the money
Be the leaders
Represent the ones
Without the money
In the assemblies
Be the leaders
Of the poor
The hungry

 

 

The Hungry

The poverty's
Fields

The fields
Where
Endless tears of the poor
Sow endless seeds
Of poverty
In the poverty's fields

Poverty's thorns
The only flowers
That flower
From those seeds

A known
Fact

That poverty
Breeds
More poverty

World bank
The rich countries
Plan the economies
Of the poor countries
Of the economies of poverty

By giving
A handout of pennies
Which they take back
As endless dollars, as billions
The interest
To the handout money

Pennies given to beggars
Leave the poor beggars
Forever hungry
Forever begging
For a handout of pennies
From the rich
To the poor countries

To ease the hunger
Of millions of hungry
In the poor countries

 

The Next Generation

Will the next generation
Forgive this generation

For leaving the world
With the pollution
Of a generation

Will that generation
Forgive this generation

For planting seeds
In the world fields
Of guns and ammunition
To harvest a harvest by guns
Of blood and death
In the next generation

Will the next generation
Forgive this generation

For setting up of economies of consumption
For the strong to consume
On the expense of the weak
In this world

Leaving the three fourths of the world
In poverty and starvation
So that the rich can live
A life of riches away from
The poverty, the starvation

Will the next generation
Forgive this generation

For taking away
From that generation
All that
That they could leave
For the next generation

 

 

This Day

Thousands of rivers
Will flow one day
In the poverty's desert
Of our land

Thousands of flowers
Have blossomed today

Thousands of freedom fighters
Have died this day

Because you have died

Thousands of men
Have walked today

Under one flag
Banner of red
We have walked
Silently
Carrying your body
Today

Blood in our bodies
Waiting to spill over this land
For freedom one day

Because you have lived
And died today

Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Died November 20th, 1984

For Faiz's poems words
Was the blood
Bleeding
From the wounded heart
Of our country

Heartbeats of blood
Were Faiz's words
That spoke against the injustice
In our country

 

Tragedy

It's a tragedy
When the poor
Goes hungry
Within a country

It's a tragedy
When the poor
Remains poor
Within a country

It's a tragedy
When the flowers
Can't flower
Within a country

It's a tragedy
When the thorns
The only flowers
The poor embrace
Within a country

It's a tragedy
When the poor
With their tears, the blood
Water the seeds of poverty
Within a country

It's a tragedy
When the poor
With their tears
Sing the songs of poverty
Within a country

And it's a tragedy
When the people
Don't think a tragedy
To be a tragedy
Within a country

 

 

If Chains Could Speak

If the desert could speak
It would tell you
How it feels
To be thirsty
To see the clouds
And yet not receive rain

If the poor could speak
They would tell you
How it feels
To live besides the rich
In poverty
Within the same city

If the majority could speak
The chained to poverty
They would tell you
How it feels
To be ruled by a minority
The privileged, the rich, the elite

If the chained could speak
They would ask you
After death
Can you put chains
On their feet

 

 

Colors Of The Revolution

Red
Is the color
Of blood

That we have
Bled, spilled
For the revolution

Red
Is the color
Of the flag

Under which
We have rallied
For the revolution

Red
Is the color
Of the revolutions flowers

From the seeds
That we have sown
Of our bodies
For the revolution

Red
Is the color
Of the sun

Under which we have marched
To die
For the revolution

 

 

Freedom

A thousand seeds
We have sown
But the flowers
Didn't flower
Of freedom

A thousand steps
We have taken
But we haven't
Come to our destination
Freedom

A thousand chains
We have broken
But still prisoners
We find ourselves
Seeking
Freedom

A thousand reasons
We have sought
But still we can't
Answer the question
Of why we are not
Free - Freedom

 

My Love

My love
The deserts
Are not barren

It's your eye
That sees the land
Is that
What is barren

Your tears
That fall from
Your eyes
Are not barren

It's your smiles
That don't greet
The tears
Of your eyes
Is that
What makes the tears
Barren

The poor's life
Of the poverty
Is not barren

It's the rich
Whose greed for
More and more riches
Is that what makes
The poor's life
The life of poverty
Barren

And love
My love

The life
After the death
Is not barren

It's your barren lives
That you take
From when you were alive
To the death

Is what
My love
That makes the death
Barren

 

 

My Love

My love
The homeless
To which home
Do they go to

The lovers
In which love
Do they find their love

The feetless
On which paths
Do they walk

The deathless
In which graves
Are they buried

The poor
In which economy
Are not the poor

The guns
To kill the men
And no man
To kill the guns

And my love
Are the autumns
The graves
Of the springs colors

 

 

Modern Economies

Economic model
On which
The world economies
Are based
Is not right

Modern economies
Produce
Riches
For the few
Poverty
For the majority

Modern economies
Produce
Smiles
For the few
Tears
For the majority

Modern economies
Produce
Security
For the few
Insecurity
For the majority

Modern economies
Produce
Justice
For the few
Injustice
For the majority

Modern economies
Produce Light
For the few
Darkness
For the majority

Modern economies
Produce
Profits
For the few
Beggary
For the majority

 

 

Capitalism

Production
For the sake
Of production

Consumption
For the sake
Of production

Advertising
Produces a hunger
For more consumption

Newer models
Replacing
The older models

Planned obsolescence
The fads
Keeping up
With the Jones

Insatiable hunger
Of material goods
Produces a consumption
For more production
For more profits
From production

The basis
Of modern production
Capitalism
Consumption
A hunger
A greed of more
Material possessions

The basis
Of more consumption
More production

 

Sadhu (Monk) Economic Model

The more
You have

The more
You want

Limiting your
Wants

The less
You have

The less
You want

Like
A Sadhu (Monk)

Reduce
Your wants
To nothing

And nothing
You will want

No rat race
No keeping up
With the Jones

Time
To enjoy
The time
That you will have

Without
The rat race

Of keeping up
With the Jones

 

Economic Models

Under Consumerism
Economic model

You've got to have
More and more

More production
For the sake
Of more consumption

More consumption
For the sake
Of more production

And you don't
Have the time
To enjoy that
What you have

As you are
Competing with
The Jones
And have to have
More and more

As one thinks
In Consumerism
That more
That you have
The more pleasure
Will you have

Where to have more
You work
More and more

And don't have
The time
To enjoy
That what you have

Under Sadhu (Monk)
Economic model

The less
That you have

The more pleasure
Do you have
With the less
That you have

With no wants
Or limiting your wants
Produces all the pleasure
You will have or want

Because you will
Have all the time
In the world to enjoy
All the time
That you have

 

 

Profits -- More and More

To
The beat

Of the falling
Tears

The poor
Row and row

The country's
Economy's ship

The poor consume
More
And more

So that
The producers
Produce more
And more

So that
The producers
Make profits
Of more
And more

By producing
More and more

And the poor
Row the oars
More and more

And keep getting
Poorer and poor
By consuming
More and more

 

 

What If

What if
Among the flowers
The thorns
Flowered

What if
Among the deserts
Of poverty
Tears flowered

What if
The majority
Remained hungry
Throughout the world

What if
The wind didn't blow
In the sails
Of our ships of hope

What if
The majority of the world
Didn't stand up to the tyranny
Injustice of this world

What if
The world remained
As we know the world
To be the world of today
Today, tomorrow and forever

 

 

Revolutionaries

We
Are men
Of eternity

Unfurling
The sails
Of destiny

Creators creating
Meanings
To truths realities

Moving
Across the sky

Fading
Into an eternity

Yes
We are
The revolutionaries

The men
Of eternity

 

 

The Revolutionaries

The revolutionaries
March

To
The beat
Of death

The revolutionaries
Dream

Dreams
Of a life
Beyond death

Thunder
And lightening

Rejoice
The death

For
From a single
Seed

There flowers
A thousand flowers

Of freedom
Beyond
The death

For
From the dream
Of a single dreamer

There flowers
A thousand flowers
Of freedom beyond death

Yes
The revolutionaries
Die a single death
From which flowers

A million flowers, a million seeds
Of freedom
Beyond death

 

 

The Chained Feet

Chains
Of thorns

On the autumns
Feet

Aren't they
Like

The chains
Of tears

On the feet
Of the poor

Chains
Of blood

On the heartbeats
Feet

Aren't they
Like

Chains
Of lifelessness

On the graves
Feet

And my words
In my poems

Aren't they the chains
Of the bloods heartbeats

On the canvas
Of the heart

Where my eyes
Wash with tears

The chained feet
Of my words in my poems
The Dress

The dress
Of darkness

The night
Wears

The dress
Of poverty

The poor
Wear

The dress
Of thorns

The autumn
Wears

The dress
Of blood

The heartbeats
Wear

The dress
Of words

My poems
Wear

Still
My heart bleeds
And not smiles

In what it reads
In the words
Of my poems

 

 

The Rich And The Poor

Like
From high
To low pressure

The wind
Moves

From
The poor
To the rich

The money
Moves

Like
From cold
To hot temperature
High to low
Pressure

The tide
Moves

Tears
From the rich
To the poor
The poverty moves

Like
From life
To the death

The living
Move

The hunger
From the rich
To the poor
The money moves

 

The Disparity

Bouquets
Of thorns

The present

Of the rich
To the poor

Bouquets
Of stolen dreams

The present

Of the poor
To the rich

The angels
Cry tears

At the disparity

Between the rich
And the poor

The fire
Of poverty burns

In the hell

The life
Of the poor

God
Is helpless

By the riches
In the hands

Of
The few

The disparity
Of the Rich
And the poor
The Poor

In a ship
Of poverty

The poor
Sail

The seas
Of poverty

In the deserts
Of poverty

The poor
Flower

As
The thorns

The only flowers
Of the poverty

In a country
Of poverty

The poor seek
All their lives

For food to ease
Their hunger

In the hungers fire
The poor burn

As if their country
Was hell

And the hungers fire
Was the hells fire

 

 

Poverty's Chains

Chains
Don't bind

It's
The inability

To break
The chains

That binds

Rulers
Don't rule

It's
The inability

Of
The ruled

To
Break the rules

That rule

The hunger
Doesn't make

The poor
Work

It's
The hunger

Of the children
Of the poor

That makes the poor
As slaves work

 

 

Revolution

The poverty's
Desert

Will
Turn green

When
Thunderbolts of revolution

Will
Strike

The ship
Will sail

Against the current
Of the oceans

And the oppressed
Will flower

As
Flowers

When in this world
The freedom flowers

And the tears
Of the skies

Will bring out
The colors of the light

As the rainbows
Colors

And the tears
Will turn to smiles

When man sees
The rainbows colors
Of the revolution
In the freedoms skies

 

 

The Key

Embrace
The thorns

And
You will know

The thirst
Of the desert

Embrace
The poverty's feet

And
You will know

The chains
On the Poor's feet

Embrace
The tears

Of the poverty's
Eyes

And
You will know

The Poor's
Helplessness

Embrace
The key

And
You will know

That
No key

Opens
The locks

Of the chains
On the Poor's feet

 

The Poverty's Shadow

The riches
Shadow
The poor

The Poor's
Shadow
The hunger
And the thirst

The deserts
Shadow
The thirst

The thirsts
Shadow
The thorns
Of the desert

The exploiters
Shadow
The exploited

The exploiteds
Shadow
The hunger
And the thirst

The sky's hungers
Shadow
The tears, the rain

The rains
Shadow
The rainbows colors

The rainbows colors
Shadow
The promised gold
At the end of the rainbows colors

 

 

The Poor

What
Is it

That makes
The poor
Poor

That
What makes the rich
Rich

Makes
The poor
Poor

What
Is it

That makes
The helpless
Weak

That
What makes the strong
Strong

Makes
The weak
Weak

What
Is it

That
Makes the desert
A desert

That
What makes the thorns
Thirsty in the desert

Makes
The desert
A desert
A Classless Economy

If
There is
No production

In a society
An economy

Money
Becomes meaningless
The banks
Become meaningless

For
What will
Or can you do
With all the worlds
Money

If
There is nothing
In a society
An economy
To buy
With your money

There
Will be no work
In a society
An economy

For without production
There is nothing
To produce
In the factories

That is
If you take out
The production
Out of a society
An economy

It will be
A pollution free
Society
An economy

And man
Will not be a slave

To work
From morning
To night
In the factories

In an production free
Society, economy

And man and women
Will have all the time
For each other
And their families

To pursue
Higher education
And artistic hobbies

It would be
A classless society
An economy

As there would be
No producers
Or consumers
Without the production
In the society
An economy

Basic necessities like
Food, Shelter, Clothing
Education and medicine
Would be provided free
By the state, society, the economy
To the people of that country

 

 

The Revolutionaries

With a force
Of a thousand thunderbolts
We will strike
At the heart
Of the capitalism

With the power of vote
With our vote
We will vote out
The tyranny
Of this world

With our love
We will embrace
The thorns
Of this world

With our tears
We will water
The seeds of love
In this world

With our smiles
We will embrace
The tears
Of this world

With our love
For our world
We will wipe out
The hatred that exists
In this divided world

We will sow
The seeds of freedom
In this enslaved world
So that the one's in chains
May find flowers
Of freedom flowering
In this world

With our eyes
We will see
Through the darkness
Of this world

With the fire
That burns in our hearts
Of freedom
We will break
The chains
That binds the poor
To the poverty
In this world

 

 

Weapon - The Majority's

The Vote

The vote
As a weapon

The majority's vote
The majority's weapon

The oppressed's vote
The oppressed's weapon

The enslaved's vote
The enslaved's weapon

The helpless's vote
The helpless's weapon

The hungry's vote
The hungry's weapon

The poor's vote
The poor's weapon

The backward's vote
The backward's weapon

The weapon
The vote
The majority's vote
The rulers in democracy

You the poor
Of this world

You are the majority
In this world

Why don't you vote
And use the majority's vote
As the majority's weapon

 

 

The Revolution

Revolution
Doesn't come
From a barrel
Of a gun

Only death
Comes
From a barrel
Of a gun

Death
No matter
Whose death
Is a tragedy

A true revolution
Should give life
A new quality of life
Rather
Than take life

A revolution
Of mind
And thought

Enlightenment
And education

Is the basis
Of a true revolution

The bloodless
Tearless revolution

A collective enlightenment
A collective action
A collective vote
A collective voice
A collective light
A collective life

The basis
Of the revolution

 

Third World Countries

You who are not poor
But rich
In the third world countries
Step gently
When you walk
In your country
For you are stepping
On the dreams
Of the poor
Of your country

You who aren't poor
But rich
In the third world countries
Laugh gently
When you laugh
In your country
For you are laughing
At the poverty
Of the majority
Of your country

You who are not poor
But rich
In the third world countries
You who despise
The poverty
Of the third world countries
Why do you live
And not go
In the first world countries

Is it because the exploiters
Need the exploited
To become the exploiters
Within that country

 

 

Our Polluted Smiles

Polluted minds

Are polluting
The world

It's not
The polluted rivers

It's not
The polluted seas

It's the polluted
Tears
That are polluting
The smiles

Polluted minds
Are polluting
The dreams

It's not
The polluted rivers

It's not
The polluted seas

It's the polluted
Rainbows colors

That are polluting
The rainbows gold

At the end
Of the rainbows colors

 

 

The Robbery

Silent
Spectators
Are we

Of the nature's
Springs
Being robbed

Off it's flowers
By the few
The rich of a country

The seas
Being robbed
Off it's fish

The rivers
Being robbed
Off it's waters purity

And the silent
Spectators
Being robbed

Off it's voice
To speak
Against the few
The rich

A minority
Robbing
The majority

The flowers
Being robbed
Off their fragrance
The spring

 

 

A Globalized World

In a globilized
World

The globilized
Producers
Produce for
The global world

World Bank and IMF
Bribe the leaders
Of the third world
To take loans

Once Addicted
To the easy money
The loans

The
Western Banks
Arm twist the leaders
Of the third world countries
To open the markets
To imports
Of the first world countries
Products

To the third world
Countries

Thus enabling
The first world countries
To flood and capture
The third world markets

And that my friends
Is the story

Of globalization
The globilized world

Where the first world
Becomes richer and richer
On the expense
Of the ever increasing poverty
Of the third world countries
In a globilized world

 

 

The Power

The power
Is vote

If only
The power
Of the vote

Is used
To fight
The powerful

Who keeps
The poor
In your country
The poor

Don't wait
For the leader
To lead you
To vote

Tell your leader
By your vote
What you want
From the leader
To do

To make the poor
Not remain
In your country
The poor

The majority rules
In a democracy
You the poor
Who are in the majority
Why is it
That you don't rule your country

 

 

My Country's Deserts

Shifting sands

In my country's
Poverty's deserts

Hide
The graves

Of the living
Dead

Of that land
My country

Falling tears

Of the thorns
The only flowers

In the desert
Of my land

Hides
The thirst

Of the poor
The thorns

Of my country's
Poverty's deserts

Dreams
Of a million
Living dead
The poor

In my country's
Poverty's desert

Dream of one day
The rain to rain
In the desert

To bring out
The rainbows

Leading to the gold
Promised at the rainbows colors end

Leading to the gold
In the lives
Of the poor
In my country's desert

 

 

Capitalist Production

From
The economies

Take out
The production

And there will be
No consumption

As there will be
Nothing in the economy
To consume

And you will
Have no rat race

And you will have
To do no work
As without consumption
You'll won't have to work
For salaries of work
To pay for the consumption

Take out the production
From the economies
And you will have
No pollution

That comes with the production
There won't be any rich
Capitalists who produce

In an economy
To become even
More rich

And make
The consumers
Who consume

Become poorer
And poorer

As consumerism
Capitalism
Exploitation

All come
From Production

Take out the production
And you will have
An equality
In the society

And you can
Cut down
The production
By cutting down
Your consumption

That advertising produces
In the hearts and the minds
Of the poor majority
To consume and consume
And consume

 

 

The Truth

Truth's light
Casts no shadows

Truth
Is both

The light
And the shadow

 

 

A Wish

O God
Make my life
A flower
So that
One more flower
May flower
Among the thorns

 

 

Driftwood

I am just like
A driftwood on the seashore
Waiting to be picked
Or trampled by your feet

Without your love
I am like the sky
Without the stars
A face without a smile
A dreamer without a dream
A boat without a sail

Just drifting
To be smashed to pieces
So I can become a driftwood
To be washed to the shores
Only to be picked by you

 

 

 

Dallas

Dallas
I miss you

Do you miss me
Dallas

The young man
Who roamed
Your streets

Searching
For an identity

Dallas
Does the sun
Still shine
On your streets
That lead
To the fields
That were so green

Dallas
I searched
In your streets
To the meanings
Of my dreams

And found
The meanings
In the smiles
Of the strangers

Whispering to me
That we all
Are the travelers
Of the same streets

Streets
Leading to the horizons
Of the heartbeats
Of the dreams
Beyond the horizon
Where the sky
Meets the earth

Where the dreams
Travel beyond
The dreamers
And the dream

Beyond the horizons
Of the realities
And the dreams

 

 

Autumn

When
The fragrance
Of the flowers

Hide
In the shadows
Of the thorns

Is that
Autumn

Death

When
The heartbeats
Of the heart

Hide
In the shadows
Of the graves

Is that
The death

And when
The fragrance
Of sadness

Hides
In the smiles
Of the tears

Is that
The hurt

And when
The fragrance
Of the heartbeats

Hide away
In the fragrance
Of the heartbeats
Of the blood

Then is that
My love
Is the life

 

 

Street Child

His bed
The pavement
He dreams
Of a bed

No one to give him
A good night kiss
The coldness of the pavement, the cement
Kisses, touches his cheeks

He raises his hands
To grasp
The stars
Beyond his grasp

No one to sing him
A lullaby
Roar of engines, the traffic
The cars, his lullaby

A star breaks
Falls from the sky
It fades away
Within the night's darkness, the endless sky

 

 

 

Mehvash

Footprints following, trailing me
Are asking me
Where is my life
Taking me

Sea waves are whispering
To me
So many men
Have walked on these shores
Before me

Lights of those distant shores
Are saying to me
So many places
In this world
I haven't been

Which of those waves
Will wash the traces
Of those footsteps
That follow me

 

 

Amna

Autumn
Is the seed

Spring
Is the flower

That flowers
From that seed

Love
Is a dream

And you
Are the reality

That flowers
From that dream

Is the flower
The seed

Or is the seed
The flower

That flowers
From that seed

The poor knows the difference
Between the reality and the dream

The reality is
That you go hungry to sleep

To dream dreams
Of a reality

That your dreams become the seeds
That flower the reality

Of you no longer being hungry
When you wake up from the dream

 

 

Mariam

Love

The waves
Of the sea
That don't make
It to the shores

Do they forever
Remain in the sea
Searching
For the shores

Is life
After death
Like that wave
That searches
Forever
Within the sea
For the shores

And Mariam
That wave

Not finding
The shores
Dies the death
Of a homeless dying
Without a home

Of a wave
Of the sea
Embracing
The shoreless shores

Does the sea
My love
For that wave
Become the shores

And the shores
Do they become
The sea
For that wave
Mariam my love

 

 

Dallas

Dallas oh Dallas
The city of my dreams
I came to you
When you were so small
A sleepy little town
Of the south

Now you are the center of commerce
The pulse beat of the nations
Economic growth
How big you have become
From the sleepy little town
Of my dreams

Skyscrapers, highways, lights
Corporations and flying planes
Fill the horizons of your sky
The future, the glory
Success waits for you

But still oh Dallas
I miss those old days
The old ways
When life was so simple
When the fields were so green
And we used to sit and wonder
From where all this greenery
Your beauty came from

When the people used
To know each other in the city
And we all used to come out running
To put the fires out in the city
And on the weekends
We used to have a ball
In that barn in the city

Oh Dallas
You are the city of my dreams
For you will always be a part of me
And my dreams
For I have come to love you Dallas
The city of my dreams
For you Dallas
Oh Dallas
You are the city of my dreams

 

 

Someone's Love

Without
The touch
Of someone's love

This world
Can be
A lonely place

Without
The warmth
Of someone's love

This world
Can be
A cold place

Without
The smile
Of someone's
Love

This world
Can be
A flowerless
World

Without
Someone
Calling your name
With love

Yours can be
A nameless
World

 

 

Hania

The candle is red
The roses are red
The sharpener is red
So is my blood
So are your toenails
And your lips

The blood drips for you
The candle burns
The roses fade away
While the sharpener sharpens
The pencil that writes the eternal message
Of my senses that my love for Hania
Is eternal

Still the eyes long
To see your feet
The senses long
To kiss your lips
And arms long
To find the home
The only home
Arif knows in Hania's arms

 

 

The Key

Tears
Are the key

That
Unlocks

The door
To smiles

And love
Is the key

That unlocks
Pleasure

To
The hurt

 

 

My Love

I
Gave her
Love

But
She wanted something
More than love

I
Gave her
My heart

But
She wanted
The heartbeats blood

Now
Many years
From the time

We took different turns
On the paths which
Together that once
We walked

I wonder
Flowers or thorns
Greeted her feet
On that paths turn

Tears
Or smiles
Greeted her

In the arms
When she found
A new love

Sunshine
Or rain
Greeted her

On that turn
That took her away
From my love

 

 

Arif's Hania

In
My life

Rivers
Of sadness

Flow
To the seas
Of loneliness

In
My loneliness

The tears
Become the pearls

The treasures
Of the seas
Of my loneliness

Where are you
Today

In my dreams
I search
For you

If ever you stand
On the shores
Of my loneliness seas

Let the waves
Kiss your feet
And die
On those shores

And let the seas
Become the graves
Where the waves are buried
To cry tears of loneliness

Only to become the treasures
The pearls of that sea

 

In Our Country

Have you heard
The songs of those
Unsung unheard heroes
Of your country

Have you seen
The tears that have
Fallen from the sky
On your land
In your country

Do you know, remember
The names of the people
Who have died
Are in jails
Who wanted freedom
In your country

And do you see the ones
Who have chains on their
Feet, thoughts and speech
Walking around pretending
That there is nothing wrong
That they are free
In our country

 

 

Hania

The walls
Are so high
The distance
So great
Between the rich
And the poor
Poverty and wealth

Like two shores
Of the same
Ocean
You and me
The rich
And the poor
Bonded
To each other
Through the same
Threads of life

Links of the same
Chains
Foot prints, tears
On the sands of life
Different shades
Colors, realities
Exploiters
And the exploited
Bonded to each
Other
Through life

 

 

He Said To Me

He was a revolutionary
He loved me
He left me one morning
Saying these words to me
" A day will come
When we will meet again
When we will have freedom
And we will be able to say
Once again
Yes, we have loved
Seen the tears
The smiles
The world
From each others arms
And we will love
Live together once again
Never to part again
When freedom comes
To this land once again "
And he went away
The freedom never came
And he never came back to me again

 

 

Tell Me

The rich people
Of Defense Housing Society
Please tell me
When you die
You just need
Three yards of land
To live an eternity
Why is it
That when you are alive
You need 2000 yards of cemented
Steel structures, with servants
Just to live
A fraction of an eternity

 

 

Seeds

From deep down
This earth
The seeds
Emerges life
To flower
Dance and smile
On the face
Surface of the earth
And leaves behind
Some more seeds
On this earth
For more flowers
To emerge

 

 

For Each Other

We are man and woman
We are two faces
Of the same life
Words and tune
Of the same song
The two shores
Of the same river
Laughter's and tears
Of the same face
We get our strength
Love and comfort
From each other
We are two realities
Of the same dream
For we are man and woman
Spirit and soul
Of the same body
One is there for the other
Like the day is there
For the night
We, man and woman
Are here in this world
For each other

 

 

Benazir

The flowers
Of your country
Are asking
You

Who has stolen
The colors
Of the flowers
Of your country

The children
Of your country
Are asking
You

Who has stolen
The childhood
From the children
Who work in the factories, the sweat shops
Of your country

The rainbows
In the skies
Of your country
Are asking
You

Who has stolen
The gold, the treasures
At the end
Of the rainbows
In the skies
Of your country

The peasants, farmers
Who work, till the land
The fertile fields
Of your country
Are asking
You

Will they ever
Have the land
Of their own
The land that the feudals
Have stolen
From the peasants, the farmers
Of your country

The laborers
Who work in the factories
Of your country
Are asking
You

Who has stolen
The fruit of their labor
In the factories, The workplace
Of your country

The oppressed people, the masses
Of your country
Are asking
You

Who has stolen
The freedom
The money, the wealth
From the poor
Of your country

To make your country
One of the poorest
The most uneducated, illiterate
The most dictatorial, oppressed
The most over populated
Country

 

 

Benazir

The power
Is at the bottom

And not
At the top

Smiles are
At the bottom

Tears are
At the top

Comrade Ship
Is at the bottom

Loneliness is
At the top

Vote
The majority's
Vote

Is where lies
The power

Mobilizing, educating
The majority to
Use the power
As the majority's vote

Is where
Lies the power

At the bottom
And not at the top

By becoming a catalyst
A lightning rod

To channelise the lightning, thunder
The strength of the storm

Is what you should be
A flower among the thorns

And not be a robber
Who robs the flowers
Flowers that give fragrance
In the lives of the thorns

 

 

Capitalism And The Majority's Poverty

Like living
Needs food
To live and grow

Capitalism needs
The poverty
Of the majority
To live and grow

Like fish
Needs water
To live and grow

The capitalism
Needs the exploitation
Of the majority
To live and grow

Who needs
Who

The rich needs
The poor

Or the poor
Needs the rich

If the rich
Would not have
Been the rich
The poor
Would not have been the poor

Now you tell me
Who needs who

The rich needs the poor
Or the poor needs the rich
The minority needs the majority
Or the majority needs the minority

For if the majority
Would not have been poor
The minority would not
Have been the rich minority

For the poverty is not simply not having money
It is the quality of life of the majority
For the economic chains of the capitalistic economies
Makes the slaves of the majority of the capitalistic economy

 

 

New Delhi - India
Born March 24th, 1952

The autumn
Winds are blowing
My dreams away
The colors of the leaves
Is all fading away
Like the years
That have slipped away
Leaving me to remember
The names, the moments
The faces
That have all faded away
Still something keeps calling me
Back to you, Delhi
The place
Where I was born
So many years, ages
Moments away

 

Arif Viqar
November 14th, 1983

Email: thepoetarif@yahoo.com

 

(Comment by Struggle Editor Tim Hall: we are publishing on our web site the complete text of Arif Viqar's Message of the Storm. It is passionate poetry, filled with love for the poor and working people and anger and rebellion against the parasitic capitalist bosses. While there are certain things in Arif's poetry that we disagree with, we feel that his entire poetic statement deserves to be read by progressive people. Specifically, we at Struggle believe that the capitalist exploiters will not allow the working class and the poor to attain power peacefully, by the vote. Voting may play an important part in rallying the masses for the revolution, but the masses will only attain power by a revolutionary overthrow of the rich. In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto played a major role in maintaining capitalist power, by feeding illusions among the people that supporting electoral parties, and specifically her People's Party, could bring about fundamental change. Nevertheless, that said, Arif Viqar's poetry in the main sings eloquently for the poor and against the despised rich, and for that he deserves to be read. Several of Arif's poems will appear in coming print editions of Struggle.)

Home Page