To Whom But You


Allah Mian —
Dear Allah Mian
To whom but You
Can a man speak
In these hours of darkness
Of emptiness and solitude
Of aloneness —

When nothing else remains
No hope, no future, no comfort
No distraction, no idea, no obsession
No person, no goal, no plan —
Nothing to grasp
Nothing to hold
Nothing to cling to

Who else but You
In these long stretches
Between night and dawn
And night again
Can a man invoke

To speak, to lay bare
The depth of his emptiness
His smallness
His insignificance
Like the endless, starless sky
That looms within his heart

This —
This is the shape
Of his soul