Eid Mubarak
Kaiser Haq
At sixty-plus
one doesn't look forward
to festivals –
and further proof
of the inadequacies
of the pocketbook
Preferable by far
is the view
in the rearview mirror
Summertime Ramadan
when fasting was a rite of passage
sweetened by lemonade
chilled with ice
at 2 annas a seer
20-20 eyes on the lookout
for the elusive
Eid moon's
thin-lipped
seductive smile
Henna leaves
ground to a paste
and copiously applied
The bustle in the kitchen
the syrupy sweet dish
and the chicken-pilau
The early morning bathe
the new clothes
with their pleasant factory smell
and cotton wads
in the ear
soused in attar of roses
The calisthenics
of collective prayer
the criss-cross hugs
to a count of three
the coins dispensed
to chanting beggars
The cheerful visits
around the neighbourhood
and naïve delight in company –
the pretty girls prettier
the plain ones less plain
At day's end
a brazen moon
flaunts a saucy smile
a boy runs through clean air
across fields of fresh grass –
from his joyous heart
as I remember it
let me send you
through heavily polluted air
the heartiest of
greetings this Eid
though admittedly it's only
a teetotallers' carnival
