We Are Here, They Are There
~ and an isthmus of blood and tears to connect us ~
Oh how we love to sing at a wedding!
when you sing you sing
when you cry you cry
— Sometimes when you sing, you cry.
Oh how we love to dance at a wedding!
We laugh we twirl women and girls
undress, arabesque
no no don’t be shy
snatch a garland or two.
But over there
moan orange and olive
all orchards lie cindered,
no fig leaf to spare
Oh Eve, oh Eve
your Children call
come gather the babies
win your reprieve
— Sometimes when you dance you weep.
Tears turn to smiles
smiles become tears
you fall
you crawl,
dust yourself off
ask those watching —
does your hunger never sleep?
Esuriently swollen
magniloquent men
egregiously leer
— what all have you stolen —
we howl and lament
our dance thunders on,
unabashed undiminished.
We dance for our sisters
mothers and brothers
stillborn blue babies
and aspirations lost
like underground rivers
our prayers rush away…
Fears pains and losses
Are poisons that choke
not me, not you,
not here, but there
orphans of war
conflagrations smoke
mothers and brothers
lie bloodied and broken
and shrouded in memories
of wild fruit and flower
a warm winter bower,
a warm winter bower..
hunger and cold,
the cold, the cold
they dream of water
the thirst, such thirst!
There’s a pool just there
run and look
but it’s black and red
blood new and old
drowned recollections
sobs and dread
poppies all bruised
petals all shed.
But here we dance
a dance macabre,
of shame and guilt
in its ghastly tread.
— Sometimes when you dance you bleed.
Oh how we love to feast at a wedding!
On mutton too ripe
almond and spice
we chew and chew
till our insides burst
but we swallow and swallow
lest we starve.
— sometimes when you swallow you choke.
From sandalwood body
shed henna and pearl
roses and jasmines
then loosen the noose
too late too late it’s upon you,
look —
death lies beside you
In a fetal curl.
Farida Haque
