Justice

I thought' it oft,
And I thought' it hard:
All but in vain,
In agonizing pain.
The age-old quest for justice
Is nothing but a wild-goose chase,
For 'tis unfairly judged in every case.
The justice of man in trained acting,
Delivered amid emotions:
Far from the subtleties of the facts,
With anthropic limitations,
More oft than not,
With intentions!

Life through the living's eyes

What's but life,
Other than that constant path
Towards an eventual decay?
What's but death,
Other than the end of that path?
What's but decay 'than entropy
That nature so madly loveth?
What's but love,
'Than the decay constant
That perpetuates the life-death pact,
So nature remains intact?
[What's but nature?
The living won't venture!]

The Up side of Down

Wherever there is a down,
There always lies an up
On the other side;
Whichever path you've to take,
'Tis only you to decide.
But in life, to be fair,
Up and down can oft be blurred;
All one can do to survive
Is to remain unstirred,
Despite all inclinations,
Through all tribulations!

Ichigo Ichie

O, the life of man!
Many a first, and many a last;
Too many ups, too many downs,
And how quickly they all go past!

Emotions

My heart throbs in anticipation,
And my head swirls with commotion;
My limbs shiver in fears,
And my eyes drown in tears;
My face glows with a smile,
And my blood boils in bile;
My brain stays aloof,
Rationalizing in slumber,
Heaping fact after fact,
Of things it can remember...
All in one day, in one life,
Swinging back and forth,
As big and fast as my life's worth.

Shameless

Your not-so-subtle fake smiles,
Your heart-wrenching guiles;
Your kindness, superficial;
Your calculations, all racial.
Egomaniac competitors,
Always ready to devour;
Manipulating all your way,
Through the echelons of power.

From Khartoum with Love

Dusty big city with untold stories,
Three sprawls under one dome,
Home to miskin people with the kindest hearts,
Living in constant fear and unfreedom;
Side by side with the arrogance of power-
Among hypocrites in an ivory tower!-
O, Khartoum, the melting pot for all,
That calls Sudan a home, I find,
You equally welcome the corrupt soul,
And the beautifulest souls of humankind.
From the "raqshas" in Ummdurman,
To the "sheya beyts" in Bahri,
And the beautiful beaches of mighty Nile,
In Naji's "own country";
From the bureaucracies of Khartoum proper,
To the hearty smiles of friends and kin,
Old and new, in solidarity of hope,
For the distressed and the miskin;
I loved living with you in fears,
And now I bid you "so long!" in tears.