Poems of Shah Jehan Ashrafi (Canada)

SHAH JEHAN ASHRAFI – PROFILE

Shah Jehan Begum Ashrafi was born in U.P., India, and grew up in Mauritius. She studied English and French literature at the University of Mauritius. After completing her postgraduate degree in education at the Mauritius Institute of Education, she taught English, French, and literature in various secondary schools. She wrote several plays for the National Drama Festival in Mauritius. Her first published work is a study guide to Arthur Miller’s play ‘All My Sons’. Writing poetry is her passion, and she is also working on a novel and some short stories. She was on the editing panel of Rajeshwari Chauhan’s novel ‘Daniel’s Diary’. Now the author lives in Canada and wishes to take up other jobs and widen her experience and knowledge. Shah Jehan Ashrafi completed her Master’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Montreal. She is currently enrolled in a PhD program and is preparing her thesis. Her poetry books ‘Incignito’, ‘Whispers’, ‘Jar of emotions’ and ‘Bloom and Gloom’ are available on amazon worldwide. Ashrafi is an active member of INK Canada and Ponts et Culture literary groups.


INCOGNITO
Shah Jehan Ashrafi

Only my woolen garb,
No silk, no velvet anymore.


A banished princess.
No glitz, genuine to the core.


Dazzling diamonds
Forlorn.
Identity card torn.


The abyss of incognito,
A wise dish.
A clumsy descent,
A firm wish.


My bumpy skin,
Coarse as the desert sand.
A bold challenge to the milky trend.


Hardships, Destitution, swirling gloom,
The advent of the persona’s doom.


While the treacherous sun sleeps in clandestinity,
I cross the threshold of eternity.


The towering crowd denies my existence.
Yet, I am dead set
To claim subsistence.


The Water Lily
Shah Jehan Ashrafi

She sat near the lake.
To look in shallow water.
Lost in ego’s booming ripples.
The demon whispering,
Or the need to simply contemplate
the self wrapped in a collage?
Who was she?
A rolling stone on time’s barren land.
A water lily refusing to bloom
in the mud.
Did she refuse to dance
Because it was raining?
But you dance under the storms
And wear the thunder and the lightning.
As if they are your companions
Walking with you on the untrodden paths.
And you , the lofty water lily ?
You’re doomed to kiss the sun
By opening your eyes.
Yet, you remain rooted
deep In the marshy land.
It pulls you downwards,
but you rise to pick the stars
from the sky.
Life is soaked in bloody tears,
Yet it celebrates itself
By sweating profusely,
Chasing joy beyond its reach.



Shadows – Living in the Other’s Gaze
Shah Jehan Ashrafi

The other’s gaze:
a cracked mirror. We see ourselves
as shattering bits
and pieces. We become shadows
on high, self-built walls.

We once recognized our proud faces
in self-constructed truths.
But here, in this marshy land,
even the lotus fears to stand.

We breathe erasure.
We balance on existence’s fragile string –
a haze looking for its outline.

Here we are mirage,
not even a flickering candle.
Our presence is ignored.
Our absence goes unnoticed.

We become strangers
to our self.




THE EGO TRIP
Shah Jehan Ashrafi

The ego trip
A hell-bent show.


A lavish spectacle,
a reckless display.
A luxurious hotel,
with a five-star sway.


A self-woven shroud,
Displayed with pride.
A swelling ego
Is hard to hide.


A shopping complex,
A spilled bill.
The world starves,
Take a chill pill.


Designer outfits,
Gaudy jewelry.
Slum dogs envy,
The opulent’s spending spree.


The limousine’s tires
Burst on glassy shards.
Silent tombs
Speak in graveyards:
‘All that comes from dust
Shall return to dust!’