Poetry

Nabeela AhmedPhoto & Artwork Fozia AbbasHow many species do we share earth with?Humans, jinn and angels is what the Quran tells us. This tiny story is from my family and of sharing space with the jinn.Around fifty years ago, one Eid my aunty came over to stay with my grandparents as she did each Eid with her children. My cousin sister was wearing red glass bangles matching her pretty red shalwar kameez with gold gota around the edges. She wasn't five yet.She played all day in the garden and behind our house in the trees next to the pond. It was from there that she came screaming home and wouldn't stop crying. No amount of comforting would settle her and then my aunty noticed her missing bangles!Now we are only two houses on top of a hill, a treck away from any village and ...

Nabeela Ahmed Nabeela Ahmed When I'm goneSearch for me in streamsComing down hillsOver dark, mossy rocksThrough the flat clear puddlesWhere sand has gatheredUnder and over fallen treesAnd on shiny pebblesAnd slippery slabsI'll be the splash doing the river danceTwirling in a ballroom of dervish circlesBefore doing the cha cha cha and merging into the next splosh of waterRising up again to the bhangraPlaying the bansriListening to the guitarSat on the pianoWatching the drummerWith a bubble under my chin for a palmI'll never be the drip drip dripComing down under the waterfallI'll always be the wave that bungee jumps head first, arms out, mouth open and eyes wideI'll enter the water calm and let it cuddle meLie on my back and kick my way steadily down str...

Tale of a Tiny Girl / Nabeela Ahmed

Search For Me in Streams / Nabeela Ahmed