When The War Is Over: A Poem by Shabir Ahmad Mir

When the war is over
And you can come over
To our side I will let you poke
Your finger Into the holes’ left
By bullets and pellets
And you will feel how much they hurt—
Still.

When the war is over
I will let you smell
Primroses growing timidly
out of ruins
And you will see
How magnificent it would have been!

When the war is over
I will let you listen
To the laughter
Of gurgling streams running
Through our undivided ancient mountains
That no longer are silenced
By the noise of angry borders.

When the war is over
I will hold your hand and take you
To the monument of massacres
Where you would listen to the whispers
Of history.

When the war is over
I will let you dip
your feet into Verinag
And drink handfuls from Sukhnag
And let your hand run through
The Dal
As your Shikara floats
Aimlessly. All day
Without any security.
And you will see how peaceful it all is.

When the war is over
I will let you feel
How charming the snow men can be
When they breathe air, free
Of tear gas and pepper gas
And sirens and screams.
You will see! You will see!
How beautiful it could be
The unending acres of snow
When its tranquility
Is not broken by digging
Untimely graves!

When the war is over
I will let you join us
At our wanwun
And at our rouff
On moonlit silver nights
And you will see
How you can be happy too
While we are happy.

When the war is over
I will invite you to tea.
We will sip our tea-
The salty, pink tea-
And you will see
How I never was your enemy.

(The Poem is specially featured for World Poetry Day, celebrated on 21st of March every year.)

Shabir Ahmad Mir, hailing from Gudoora, Pulwama, writes poetry as well as prose. He is a regular contributor to Mountain Ink Magazine, and currently works with Kashmir Life, a Srinagar based news magazine. He can be reached at his facebook handle @Shabir Ahmad Mir.