River (Ghazal)

            after Fatimah Asghar

Indus Waters Treaty says a nadi, nallah, nai, khad and cho flow part of a river

But permits an interruption of borders— they alone may slow the art of a river

Brackish tears win wars of attrition in deltas, mangroves mortal wound

Sweetness displaced, far up north, the Himalayas shine pristine, show the heart of a river

Did you know? We are the crucible of the monsoon, Tibetan Plateau changing world’s wind

Choti geeli bhaari, searching sodden skies: thunder to bellow the start of a river

If they should come for us, rabid, my people, my kin, my waters, dirty bloody claws grasping

They’ll snatch only our afterimage- we are only alive below the dart of a river

Pakistan has the longest series of running canals, worldwide— modernity’s marvel

They want the water steady, controlled, but only fools think they know the chart of a river

Watching you drown, I think: every struggle amounted to this, a sad silent unravel

You think: flowers only float, buffeted, damaged, but Laleh can flow part of a river.