A Nation's Strength. What makes a nation's pillars high And its foundations strong? What makes it mighty to defy The foes that round it throng? It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand Go down in battle shock; Its shafts are laid on sinking sand, Not on abiding rock. Is it the sword? Ask the red dust Of empires passed away; The blood has...
Horoscopes are maddening! I stopped believing in horoscopes and astrology the moment I began thinking. What we read below our astrological signs, is nothing but a collection of a person's—a lunatic's—wild and unrestricted assumptions. Their primary objective is to mislead us, and deprive us of our individualistic thinking. I still read mine from the newspaper I read every day; hoping to find—I don't know—something?...
You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me. And that’s when you met me....
Helplessness. Helplessness is what he feels. Around his neck is a loosened noose, adorning him. Nothing but black is visible to him, courtesy of the dark cloth-bag he stands wearing. His hands are tied tight, to his waist; he's immobile. From above this raised platform, he can hear the crowd below; crying impatiently for the lever to be pulled, for him to be...
Richard Cory. Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich -...
The Dolphin Force is Punjab's new batch of peacekeepers. The 700 pass-outs from the Chung Police Training Center have been bestowed with the responsibility of fighting against crime, ensuring the safety of the public. This division of peacekeepers came into being by the pioneering efforts and cooperation of the Turk National Police, which has made sure—or so the higher-ups claim—that the pass outs...
I've been bit. The pain has dwindled a little; his venomous teeth have dug indentations into my arm. On every single one of my efforts of soothing the remnants of the agony, I wince. My hands are red with blood, the sight of trickling red liquid on my fingers frightens me. I am dying. I hear him howl. It, howl. He's no longer human. He...
Colors, splattered or thrown all over me... I am yet to experience the feeling. When I and a friend of mine began debating over whether the festival of Holi should be celebrated as a Public Holiday for the related minorities, the argument didn't last long. He asserted that because the Muslims in India are not being given their religious liberty, we should do...
The Road Not Taken. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though...
Dear Diary, A lot has happened. For starters, Meghan Trainor's recent single is officially the best thing that has happened to me. I have the song on repeat, and can't stop rocking out to the beat! Every time my ears start hurting from listening to it with a such a loud volume, my head iterates this line from the lyrics: NO NO NO!...
If. If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And...
I am crouched behind a wall. The cameras scrutinizing these hallways have been hacked shut, probably the work of our tech expert. When I first joined the Resistance, the higher-ups never deemed me capable enough for field work. All of that has changed, now. When they discovered that I, too, am an Anomaly, they saw me as a threat; an end to their...
They feel hypnotized when they look in his eyes, mesmerized. What they see are diamonds, glittering blindingly. When he flickers his eye-lids, the dazzling light is enough to illuminate the dark. They feel both awe and envy, when they look at his face. Someone asked him,"How do you have such beautiful eyes?" He replied,"I stopped crying one day." ...
I stand alone. My hands are chained to the ground, the length of my jangling captors allowing me to stand upright. A thousand glare at me. There is fire in their eyes, the contempt I can see is unbearable. Something is weighing me down. It is like a million rocks are hanging from my back. The fire in their eyes increases. Something inside...
Daffodils. I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay:...
Slowly, so achingly slowly, they trickle down her cheeks, lying dormant for a few seconds on her chin, then landing abruptly on her folded knees. She is hurt. When she brushes away a lingering drop or two, others replace them in quick succession. After an agonizing moment of exasperation, she abandons clearing her face altogether. With this withdrawal, more tears cloud her eyes;...
I am seated on a chair. There is a table in front of me. A cup lies untouched atop. There is silvery liquid, shining inside. A foreign hand grabs mine, and makes me lift the cup to my mouth. I try to resist. But fail. The poison is forced through my lips, inside my body. I fall to the ground. As I choke...
Caged Bird. The free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens...
Hope is the Thing with Feathers. "Hope" is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all— And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard— And sore must be the storm— That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm— I've heard it in the chillest land— And on the strangest Sea— Yet,...
Fear No More. Fear no more the heat o' the sun; Nor the furious winter's rages, Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages; Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney sweepers come to dust. Fear no more the frown of the great, Thou art past the tyrant's stroke: Care no more to clothe and eat; To...
All the World's a Stage. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms....
I and my dad are not on talking-terms. He has lost all hope in me. He thinks I'm a failure. This is a fine addition to the list of things that I have to prove wrong. It's quite a list, I have. ...
Assuming that you are strong and can stand alone, with no one beside you, can be a fatal mistake; the very mistake that I have committed yet again. When I glanced around today, seeking the companions that I believed were standing next to me, I saw no other living soul. There was nothing but thin air surrounding me. When you realize that you...
It was Ariana Grande and her single, Focus, humming in my ears and containing all my attention to listening to the music. I was less conscious about how my classmates again were making fun of me. And more attentive to how the rhythm kept changing and how engrossing the song kept becoming with each passing second. I was, as per the lyrics, focusing...
My dad thinks that I am a pawn or something, which he can place wherever he wishes to fulfill his wants and needs. What about my wants and needs? Because of what transpired tonight, my fate has been sealed. I can't jump ship. Anymore. I'll now have to study Software Engineering, no matter how bad I might be. A new tutor will now...
He opens his eyes. Everything is blurry, unclear. He can't move his hands when he tries—he can't move. A few seconds after his eyes adjust to the dark, he again tries ascertaining his surroundings. It's a web! A spider's web. He's tied to a spider's web... The web appears to be never-ending; the points of its origin invisible. He tries to pull...
A foot in front of the other. The dark of this tunnel may be frightening; but not frightening enough. I continue, despite the illusions my brain creates to deter me from the exit. I have no complete memory of how I got here; just broken images. I have been walking for hours. Sweat trickles down my back; bathing the cloth of my clothing...
Straight from the news: Wild accusations. Former Karachi Nazim, Mustafa Kamal mired MQM with wild accusations yesterday. He burst into a fit of tears to emphasize the importance of his conjecture. Many believe him to be in the right; however, the victimized political entity has categorized all of his allegations false. Hand in hand with MIT. Ahsan Iqbal—Federal Minister for Planning, development, and...
I stare at my reflection in the mirror. What I see, are bruises, cuts, and scars of countless struggles. What appears is rough skin, blemished. A look at my eyes reminds me of all the times spent in corners, shedding tears. What is no longer conceivable is the glint of ember in my irises. The broken remain broken; whether or not they master...
There's always more to people than what they let on. The lectures I sat in today were like masquerade balls; everyone had a mask obscuring their faces. There were a few that slipped, and the faces that I saw underneath, were horrible. Like the face of a classmate of mine, making a scandalous remark on my helping out a rather withdrawn girl of...
I find myself pondering over the same question. Should I, or should I not? A friendly advice today placed my intentions—based on statistics—in the category of "unwise". He later added, as if to allay the blow his opinion had on my fragile state of mind, that it was totally my call. If only I'd thought of that, cher ami. I later boarded another...
