Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.

For it to shower in the rainless days
The crowd comes hanging a name on their necks
They say I smell of ‘izband’ God will listen to my pleads
They say the big chinar tree in my garden was the birthplace
Of the ‘Baba Sahab’ in the shrine of our village
Who is said to have completed seven Haj on his feet
I wonder if my ancestors raided the sacred land
Was the space of my home a sacred motion on grass?
A long time ago
Would it be possible that is why the tree smells of hanging now?
Of willow whispers and serpentine scent
Would it be the reason why the isband smell no longer keeps away?
The spirits, rather calls them in
I still wonder if the isband smoke would turn into clouds
Fall water on the nerves of the people who were wronged
Bring water in the dry lands of their rice fields
Bring back life in the spring near the Shrine
Shaded by the chinar leaves
Do you know what they say?
If one sits under the Chinar, it calms blood rather fills it in
But our chinars bear blistered skin!

Footnotes:

Izband (wild rue): It has spiritual significance of warding off the ‘evil eye’ in Kashmir. It is usually given to people by pious and saint like people enchanted with the verses of the holy Quran.

Baba Sahab: A saint, whose shrine is located in a village called Malangpora in Kashmir. He is believed to have walked to the holy city of Mecca seven times on foot for pilgrimage.

Chinar: A huge tree often associated with ghosts and spirits in Kashmir and also associated with increasing blood in the body by sitting under it’s shade in summer.