My favorite poem? Surely, there cannot be only one. There are many. Some got molded with age and are no longer a favorite. Age has no effect on some. Those poems were my favorite then, and I still love them as much today. My early favorite poetry writers are Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Amrita Pritam, Rumi, Gulzar, Agyeya. It just doesn't happen here. there are more.
Here's apoem by Rumi:
All through eternity
Beauty unveils His exquisite form
in the solitude of nothingness;
He holds a mirror to His Face
and beholds His own beauty.
he is the knower and the known,
the seer and the seen;
No eye but His own
has ever looked upon this Universe.
His every quality finds an expression:
Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;
Love, the life-giving garden of this world.
Every branch and leaf and fruit
Reveals an aspect of His perfection-
They cypress give hint of His majesty,
The rose gives tidings of His beauty.
Whenever Beauty looks,
Love is also there;
Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek
Love lights Her fire from that flame.
When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night
Love comes and finds a heart
entangled in tresses.
Beauty and Love are as body and soul.
Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.
They have together
since the beginning of time-
Side by side, step by step.
I swear, since seeing Your face,
the whole world is fraud and fantasy
The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf
or blossom. The distracted birds
can’t distinguish the birdseed from the snare.
A house of love with no limits,
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.
A short poem by Faiz :
Speak, for your lips are free
Speak, for your tongue is still yours
Your upright body belongs to you
Speak, for your soul still is yours
A poem by Amrita Pritam :
I will meet you yet again
How and where
I know not
Perhaps I will become a
figment of your imagination
and maybe spreading myself
in a mysterious line
on your canvas
I will keep gazing at you.
Perhaps I will become a ray
of sunshine to be
embraced by your colours
I will paint myself on your canvas
I know not how and where —
but I will meet you for sure.
Maybe I will turn into a spring
and rub foaming
drops of water on your body
and rest my coolness on
your burning chest
I know nothing
but that this life
will walk along with me.
When the body perishes
all perishes
but the threads of memory
are woven of enduring atoms
I will pick these particles
weave the threads
and I will meet you yet again.
A poem by Gulzar :
In a billion years, when
The sun’s fire dwindles
And ash blows across its surface
When the moon will no longer wane
And the land not rise
When like a cold, burnt-out piece of coal
This earth revolves, lost in its gyre,
Trailing a dying sepia glow
I think then
If a poem written on a piece of paper
Was to waft along
And perchance land on the sun,
The sun would ignite again!
A poem by Agyeya:
“the bird flew –
a tremble, then
at peace
was the leaf.”
Now, the question comes why do I like these poems and other such kind of poems. There's something unique in them that touches heart, mind, and soul together. Every time I read, if gives me a fresh layer of understanding. These are thought provoking and intriguing. In a very few lines these convey a deep and mindful message.