Naseer Ahmed Nasir

Birds of Eternity

O Birds of eternity!
Come to me
Perch on my terrace
Come down, come
Flying so high will get you nothing but landlessness
See, this is the percipience
Come down from the heavens
Take a peak at the earth from my terrace
Chirp in my balcony
Jump on the trees in my yard
Suck every fruit’s juice and peck on it
Play with me
There are benches in my lawn
The grass is still green and freshly cut
But the sitters have all gone
I, myself have also stood up
Ready to go
If I hear the lush flutter of your wings,
I will stay for a little while and look
At the plants, at the flowers, and at the fragrant scenes
Somewhere, sometime, I was present, In these scenes,
Somewhere you were present, and somewhere life was present

O Birds of eternity,
Come to me,
Or send for me to join you
Make me the everlasting shade of you pristine wings
Make me your epitome
I am tired of seeing you
I have started my flight

(Translated from the original Urdu into English by Abid Raza)