“Part of Us” – English poem by Hamda Rafaaqat [Institute of English Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore]

Part of us

We were gone a long time ago

When? May be for the seven moons

One, when we first met

One, when our lingering eyes contact

One, when our heart aligns in rhythmic beats

One, when we converse with each other

One, when our emotions cross the realm of mundane

One, when our souls left our bodies a moment felt like eternity

And, when we hold a part of each other in ourselves

Like the seven days of week

Like the seven colours of rainbow

Like the seven heavens mentioned in Quran

Like the seven walk around Kaaba

Like the seven days of moon’s cycle

Like the seven wonders of world

And like the seven days creation of this universe

The perplexity of my mind

Make the words, the tool of his beauty

An art of an artist

Realising

How a lot of them remain left unsaid

How a lot of them had pierce my heart’s wall

And how we are holding the part of us in ourselves

May be a epiphany

Realising

Why I write “one” six times

Isn’t the point of human existence!

The profundity of “One”

And you can count again

It’s written seven times now.