“Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast” - Amir Khusro

Our bodies covered in Pheran

our land covered in blood

while burning Oud on a Friday morning

pouring Kehwa from a samovar

or drinking from the Jehlum river
our souls harp shiver
i see a heaven

that is mourning over its own funeral
they've raised hell in Maryams's arms

there is red snow fall and red chinaar

and when our birds fly
their broken wings fall

I see broken windows

and I see broken dreams

and somewhere far across these valleys

I see

a young one

picking up the forbidden fruit and not the gun

azaadi

I see

colors

I see the never ending sky

and with these broken wings

we still learn to fly.


Kasheer -By Madiha Shams Khan

To all the countries/ cities and lives effected by conflicts and their daunting aftermath

May the human race realise that love is the only war worth fighting for
May we see white flags and white doves
May we all learn to love   

Typewriter on a monsoon evening

And days when I don't gaze into the sky for too long or feel the wind in my hair, days when I sit and harp on a memory realizing that how time passes us all by are the kind of days when the typewriter kept in front of me makes me realize that our stories are going to be full of flaws and that our words are going to be misspelled, our sentences won't come with perfect punctuations and that we won't be able to go back in time to rewrite anything at all because
we are the typewriters that can't erase the mistakes they make. 


-By Madiha Shams Khan

What am I going to do with all my lies

Some days I don’t want you to know about my life because I am picking up a lot of trash from the heartache that someone has caused for not believing in me, I am wiping off the dewdrops on my window to clear some view for myself, I have always liked it better when there were many clouds around the sun and it blew as many strokes as possible, so I guess I chose to hide all the agony with my lies for the spark to remain in certain relations then I got back to romancing with the stars in the night sky, my fingers were in a constant affair with the telescope and I guess I chose to hide all the wicked truths with my lies, people die and if that’s a wicked truth, I could comfort you with my lies and a sorry lullaby. Some days, I don’t want you to know about my life because I am washing off a lot of dirt that I’ve got on my skin from wearing a man's sheathing, I am walking in the rain and this piece of cloth on my flesh has suddenly made everything about me very dirty, I have always loved the smell of rain so I guess I chose to perfume the dirt with my lies. Some days, I don’t want you to know about my life because I am filling the empty spaces of myself with some underrated tv show and a song that can’t stop talking about broken promises and a filthy love, I am going to have my dinner alone, there's an empty feeling that always consumes me in that moment so I guess I chose to fold the last penny in my pocket, not take that taxi to see you and build a journey with my lies. Some days, I don’t want you to know about my life because I am dressing myself up in a  red dress, bare shoulders bareback trying to walk myself into what’s delusional, I have always heard people call me names so I pull you from your throat and pour my lies down your thirsty soul so you can forever stay drunk on the lie that I am a liar.


- By Madiha Shams Khan