To Dream of Hope

"We dream of hope, we dream of change, of fire, of love, of death. And then it happens; the dream becomes real, and the answer to this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries, finally shows itself like the glowing light of the new dawn.

 

So much struggle for meaning, for purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane.

 

The simple human need to find a kindred. To connect. And to know in our hearts...

 

That we are not alone!" ~ Heroes

A Child is Born to Innocence

http://photostudio-patrone.blogspot.com/

"A Child is born to innocence, a child is drawn towards good, why then, do so many among us go so horribly wrong? What makes some walk the path of darkness, while others choose the light? Is it will? Is it destiny? Can we ever hope to truly understand the force that shapes the soul? To fight evil one must know evil. One must journey back through time and find that fork in the road. Where heroes turn one way and villains turn another" ~ Heroes

Muhawaraa Maa Bain Khuda-o-Insan (Dialogue between God and Man) By Allama Iqbal

Man To God:

Ae Khuda, shikwah-e-arbaab-e-wafa bhi sun lay

Khoogar-e-hamd say thoda saa gilaa bhi sun lay’

“O God, listen to this remonstrance from your faithful

Listen to the lament of those who forever praise you”

God starts first, remarking to man:

‘Jahan raaz yak aab-o-gil aafridum

Tu Iran-o-tataar-o-zang aafridi

Man az khaak polaad naab aafridum

Tu shamsheer-o-teer-o-tafang aafridi

Tabar aafridi nihal-e-chaman ra

Qafas sakhtee tair-e-naghma zan ra’

“I created this world from the same water and earth

You created Iran, Tartaria and Nubia

I forged from dust, iron’s pristine ore

You fashioned the sword, arrow and gun

To fell the garden tree, you made the axe

You fashioned the cage to imprison the singing bird”

Man replies:

‘Tu shab aafridi, chiragh aafridum

Safaal aafridi, ayaagh aafridum

Bayabaan-o-kohsaar-o-raagh aafridi

Khayabaan-o-gulzar-o-bagh aafridum

Man aanam kay az sang aaina saazum

Man aanam kay az zehr noshinaa sazum’

“You created night, I the lamp

You created clay, and I the cup

You-desert, mountain peak and valley

I-flower bed, park and orchard

It is I who grind a mirror out of stone

And brew elixir from poison”

The Day of My Death

Each morning when I open my eyes,

I would think to myself and say.

I, not events have the power to make me happy or unhappy today.

I can choose which it shall be, because I live my life with much sway.

Since yesterday is dead, and tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet.

I can truly say,

I lived a long time, here on this land

With its beauty and despair that go hand in hand.

I learned a lot, while I watched the hourglass tip its sand.

The highest wisdom that I shall own, freedom and life are earned by those alone.

I can laugh and say I still haven’t grown.

Even if it is a time to moan,

I can look towards the sky as the raindrops mix with the tears I cry.

Tears of joy I may imply.

As James Thurber once said,

“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, to and why”

There were times when I did not pray

And I simply said, “I could not stay”.

Now God has brought me to his garden to play.

So, the end is near.

I take my final bow, and face my final curtain.

To my family and friends,

I’ll state my case of which I am certain.

I will only say this once, so listen up I’ll surely be clear.

I lived a life that was completely full; I’ve travelled each and every highway,

And more, much more than this,

I did it MY WAY… 

The Village Idiot

Chaim Soutine - The Village Idiot
In villages from which their childhood came,

Seeking necessity, they had been taught.

Necessity by nature is the same,

No matter how or by whom it may be sought.

It was perhaps others, who seemed to withdraw,

“Resented by robbers, who were outlawed by the law”.

But, it’s not comfort that I seek,

I live for danger, for sin, for goodness,

What I seek is the freedom of being selfless.

I pray for I have lived a life of sin,

I worship for I have lived a life of despair.

Pray for the pain that’s trapped in the heart,

But, if that very heart is the reason for your pain, then where should you start?

Courage is your only virtue,

Believe it so, with that every soulless part.

The village idiot told himself, there’s one in every town,

This poor soul had no clue, for he was bound by ridicule and frown.

Tears from weeping,

Lost in the silent streets.

Most passed him by without even a sigh!

He sat there dirt and all, with this thought,

Only to mumble the echoes of the wars he had fought.

Wings of Death

I woke up and opened my eyes. I was feeling refreshed. Was I just born? No, I wasn’t. There was nothing wet on my body. But I felt alive. Perhaps I have woken up from a deep sleep, a sleep that didn’t include only one night, but covered my entire existence thus far.

But the joy of breathing again was short lived. I was now feeling pain throughout my body. I looked down, and I saw myself in shackles. I had a chain around my neck, which also locked my arms behind me. I felt sharp pain in my joints, as if someone was constantly stabbing me. The chain around my neck was tight, but not tight enough to kill me.

Perhaps these fetters were already here, perhaps since I first came into this world. I was a little boy then, which is why they didn’t fit too tight. I could move and even play around in them. And here I was restrained by the same chains. I could see my hands turning red, as the blood vessels were under pressure.

It is a good thing that human beings have a growing age. I think I have reached mine. If I grow beyond this, I will break the chains, or my own neck.

So, what do I do now? Wait? That was the only thing that could be done. I was alone in the room, which was surrounded from all sides. But wait, there is no roof. Of course, I couldn’t turn my head up, but I could roll my eyeballs upwards. The human body is amazing, and you can do a million things with it, and to it. You can even hypnotize yourself.

Why was I getting restless? If these chains were too tight, then perhaps they were not meant for me. Maybe it was to hold me in place during my early years so I may learn self-control. But now I had to break away, and so I tried.

To my amazement, I freed my hands in no time! And since this was the chain that held my neck as well, I easily removed it. Relief at last! I turned my head sideways, only to hear the sounds of bones grinding against each other. After all, it has been quite some time.

I moved my hands around. At first, I couldn’t, but as the circulation restored, I was soon able to lift my arms and clench my fists. And then I felt something protrude from my sides. I could not believe my eyes. There were wings, large white wings, on my left and right.

I took me a while to realize that they were my own. Did I have them before? Did they grow longer with time, like hair? Were they given to me, or did I grow them out of necessity?

Whatever the cause, I knew one thing: I was going to leave this room of irons and fly my way out into the open sky. I positioned my body for the flight and closed my eyes.

“3, 2……………..1!” I shot upwards, like a bullet ready to pierce a hole in the sky. As I lifted my arms to go higher, my flight stopped, instantly.

I was neither going up, nor falling down. I felt something on my legs. Something was holding me back. I looked down and saw chains on my feet. I didn’t realize that they were there before.

I was not going to be held back anymore. So I closed my eyes once again, and pushed my body harder for the next flight.

“3, 2……1!” The chains broke, but I didn’t move from my place. I heard a sound, a sound of breaking bones. Had I cracked my ankles? It didn’t feel that way.

I was hovering in the sky, and below me was the room. In the middle was the chair on which I had sat for all these years. But wait, there was a hole beneath the chair, and the chains that locked my feet were going inside it.

I didn’t want to go back in, but at the same time I was perplexed by the sound of broken bones I heard a moment ago. And then I thought to myself: “I have wings now, and I am free. I can fly out again” With these words in my mind, I descended back into the room, and down the dark opening.

I followed the trail of the chain and came down till the end of that dungeon-like space. As I moved towards the side, sunlight came inside, and soon I saw where the other end of chain was tied to.

It was a human being. Someone I knew. Maybe it was my father, or some other relative. The other end of the chain was in his neck. I broke his neck when I flew upwards. And now the dead corpse lay there. Did I kill him? So it appeared. But I never knew he was here and I had no clue that we were tied together.

I thought I had become free. I thought “at last I am free to fly around as I please, and reach new heights!” But although I was liberated physically, my mind could not go over the fact that I had, in essence, killed one of my own in the attempt to free myself from the shackles that held me captive.

I sat there, thinking to myself: "What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"

By Suleman John

Good and Evil?

Many of us from time to time are faced with a number of circumstances to prove our virtue. Yet, in the midst of time we try and pretend that we are good people, and that we can do no wrong. We are kind helpful people, and because of which God will reward us for our good deeds.

It’s fear that drives our morals, so that we are protected from what we believe will be the very ‘fires of hell’. Though, our blasphemous and hypocritical nature provides us with much gratification of what we believe is good, or perhaps something that will enlighten us about the difference between good and evil.

We believe in it so much that we begin to dictate our understandings to those who have not quite come to a conclusion. It’s in our act of worship that we believe we can do no evil. However, given the right circumstances, I am certain every human being on this planet would be willing to commit an evil deed.