Artwork by Madiha Shams Khan
Therapeutic aroma of my childhood memories
chiseling the wood to make my reed
Alif Laila stories my grandfather would read
calligraphy curves on mashaq
letters dipped in scents of longing
crafting envelopes, binding books
assembling rose petals to make gulqand
walking through the valleys in long homely pherans
now
i weave my pheran with the threads of nostalgia
And script the stories of my past with calligraphy
know
nothing is ever lost in time
for those who live in nostalgia
they can bring back hope
they can bring back a destroyed city
they can bring back the extinct art
they can bring back a lost culture
but
can you see
can you see
Written after listening to the narration of a very dear friend's personal experiences in context to his childhood memories in Kashmir.
mashaq - a wooden tablet
gulqand - a sweet preserve of rose petals
Alif Laila - tales from Arabian nights
Daastaan-e-pheran Zubaan-e-qalam By Madiha Shams Khan
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