Of Jowls in Night

by Yavar Khan Qadri

(Archaic /Shakespearean slang/ English version)

Fear, uncertainty, and dread,
hovering 'round us in bed,
Ghosts, 'r goblins from yore,
torment us as nev'r before,
The breathing is heavy and deep,
whither sanity is hard to keep,

Wherefore this constant fear?
I wonder, as others has't hath said,
Fear is something yond's learned,
in some book I once hadst read,

t's all about darkness, I presume,
all the fears yond we nightly assume,
forgotten with the breaking of dawn,
our lives, we normally resume

The Devil and djinn we keep,
a little ere we falleth asleep,
and ope the unconscious door,
whither these fiends  shall happily reap,

Our souls in the Devil's deep,
we selleth so easily f'r cheap,
then wonder what hath happened at night,
at which hour we did scream in fright,


Of Jowls in the  Night  
by Yavar Khan Qadri

(Modern English version)

Fear, uncertainty, and dread,
Hovering around us in bed,
Ghosts, or goblins from yore,
torment us as never before,
The breathing heavy and deep,
where sanity is hard to keep,

Why this constant fear?
I wonder, as others have said,
Fear is something that's learned,
in some book I once had read,

It's all about darkness, I presume,
all the fears that we nightly assume,
Forgotten with the breaking of dawn,
our lives, we normally resume

The Devil and Djinn we keep,
Just before we fall asleep,
and open the unconscious door,
where these fiends  will happily reap,

Our souls in the Devil's deep,
we sell so easily for cheap,
then wonder what happened at night,

when we screamed in confusion and fright,

Bio

I am of Kashmiri origin and I am inspired by the Romantic Period and I typically write lyric poetry in free verse. I am a member of The Ontario Poetry Society and the subject of my poem ranges from social (political to romantic, and the morbid. I believe in the healing power of imagination and I write in solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed thoughts and emotions of individuals and groups in society. I am an anarcho-syndicalist.


I have written poems for the Labour Movement (As printed on this year's May Day flyers, through the Toronto Airport Workers Council.) And I have been a guest speaker for a socialist group. Above all, I love writing about the morbidity in our thoughts and don't hesitate to bring it out on paper. Here's my blog: Acids of Thought.