An unclaimed body Abandoned mercilessly In a bleak alley of This dark-drab city. Battered and shattered Wrapped in utter helplessness Aloof, uncared for Besmeared with blood Eyes open and firm Complaining innocently An unclaimed body abandoned mercilessly.
Oh God! could anybody Come forward and help me out? But that was not to be Numbness grew deeper and deadly Akin to the disasters of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dogs sat around lethargically Satiated with human flesh and booty With eyes half-closed, heads down Weeping, perhaps, on 'his' Approaching death, mournfully An unclaimed body abandoned mercilessly.
Mehndi (Henna) on his hands Had not faded entirely Hair of his beard had not Sprouted completely. Bubbling with youth A blossom of promise soaring high. Sister must have looked around Mother must have waited at the door Old father must have gazed around anxiously An unclaimed body abandoned mercilessly.
A few days later Quoted a Urdu Newspaper 'We killed him, he was an informer An adversary of the Movement, a deceiver' A reader reacted instantly: 'Yes, he was a militant Foe of the nation, enemy agent ' Yet another murmured silently: 'Neither a militant nor an agent A loved/misguided son of the valley A Kashmiri youth Done to death brutally' An unclaimed body abandoned mercilessly.
Bashir Athar is a noted Kashmiri Poet poet widely known for his powerful expression and more so for the human values he enlivens/embodies in his well conceived poems. He lives in Srinagar, Kashmir.
Shiben Krishan Raina is a well-known writer and translator. He is a winner of several academic awards. An authority on Kashmiri literature and politics, he has translated the poems of Bashir Athar.
