By Arooj Kohli of 2nd Year:

TO THE WIND:

Do you still wander upon his doorstep softly creaking the wooden stairs below?

Does your breeze still rustle the leaves on the tree in his front yard?

Or do you playfully jostle the swing set that his father so enthusiastically set up for him?

Perhaps your whirlwinds of air still race across the sleek exterior of his car?

Or just before rainfall your air mingled with dirt sneaks into the crevices of the windshield paying homage to the medical sticker brazenly sitting above?

Do your swift blows still seek to accompany his father’s fingers running through his young child’s soft hair?

Or do they recoil in sorrow knowing no further birthdays will need their help in blowing out the festive candles of yesterday?

Does your current run alongside the funeral procession as he once ran in youth when you aided him into his father’s wide-open arms?

Or do you linger at the edges of the wooden casket fearing lest you whisk him too quickly from his father?

Is your ailing heart so filled with grief that you do not move to dry his father’s tear-stained face?

Or is it paralyzed with despair at being doomed to loiter upon his gravestone never to reunite the father to his son again?

Dedicated to our Dear Sir Javed Aslam whose son died in the blast yesterday on Friday, May 28, 2010. May God grant him paradise and give peace and consolation to his family. Ameen.