Lured by her hazel eyes, I entered her town, as a disguised refugee.
Then she married another, leaving me, a lovelorn, despised refugee
I am a Pandit forced to leave my apple paradise in Kashmir.
In my own nation I reside in shanties as a compromised refugee.
You are a Muslim dear: but weren’t your ancestors Hindus like me?
What are Pakistan Hindustan … excuses for a new domicile: Refugee?
In my veins you’ll find the trails of the so-called Aryan blood.
Do I have a homeland or am I, my inheritance, lies? Refugee?
O Beloved, you squandered me for faith, migrated to Pakistan.
To be called a Muhajir there? To become a despised refugee?
Even in America, this land of prosperity, puritans and pilgrims.
Don’t they resent Hispanics and me: often baptized refugee?
Your contradictions are so Middle-Eastern, I call you Israel or Palestine:
You've forgotten your ancestor too arrived here as an ostracized refugee!
Were Adam-Eve first exiles on Earth? Did Manu row the Ark?
Questions of faith, beloved or who was the first scribed refugee?
Can’t you see I have obliterated each trait of my ethnic self?
Yet I’m not counted as your own. Ah! To be identified refugee!
Is there no space for Vivek in your realms of religion or love?
What about the nations where we both are descried refugee?
Published first at The Ghazal Page (Volume One, 2012)
Then she married another, leaving me, a lovelorn, despised refugee
I am a Pandit forced to leave my apple paradise in Kashmir.
In my own nation I reside in shanties as a compromised refugee.
You are a Muslim dear: but weren’t your ancestors Hindus like me?
What are Pakistan Hindustan … excuses for a new domicile: Refugee?
In my veins you’ll find the trails of the so-called Aryan blood.
Do I have a homeland or am I, my inheritance, lies? Refugee?
O Beloved, you squandered me for faith, migrated to Pakistan.
To be called a Muhajir there? To become a despised refugee?
Even in America, this land of prosperity, puritans and pilgrims.
Don’t they resent Hispanics and me: often baptized refugee?
Your contradictions are so Middle-Eastern, I call you Israel or Palestine:
You've forgotten your ancestor too arrived here as an ostracized refugee!
Were Adam-Eve first exiles on Earth? Did Manu row the Ark?
Questions of faith, beloved or who was the first scribed refugee?
Can’t you see I have obliterated each trait of my ethnic self?
Yet I’m not counted as your own. Ah! To be identified refugee!
Is there no space for Vivek in your realms of religion or love?
What about the nations where we both are descried refugee?
Published first at The Ghazal Page (Volume One, 2012)
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