From tiny stones its graceful flow draws melodies
Its face like a mirror — polished, unblemished!
How merrily it flows to the boundless ocean —
Unique in itself, unconcerned with all else, it flows.
A gushing river, it crosses over dams and folds,
It flows past narrow crevices of valleys, hills and deserts
Low or high — just the same, it gushes forth …
It moves across the king’s palace and fortifications,
It crosses green fields and gardens.
Impatient, intense; fierce, heart-inflaming, restless —
In every epoch reaching the new, leaving behind the old
How merrily it flows to the boundless ocean —
Unique in itself, unconcerned with all else, it flows.
The columnist is a professor and advisor of the social sciences and liberal arts programme at the IBA, Karachi, and visiting faculty at the University of Pennsylvania
Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 10th, 2017