TIME

A poem I wrote in my first year here in the USA when I was making the transition of settling in the USA. Just so that it's clearer to you...I am obviously here in the USA, the 'her' mentioned in the poem is my best friend who lives in London, and my family is obviously in Pakistan...the time difference between Pakistan and USA is around 11-12 hours and they are ahead of the US; the difference between England and USA is 6 hours and again, they are ahead of us! That's the backdrop of the poem! ENJOY!!

TIME

As I look out

the window,

the sun

coldly sets.

Eleven hours

too late.

Six hours

too late.

(I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.)

As I get out of bed here,

on a rain-swept morn,

in the city cuddled

by River Thames

she walks home

from work

under dusky twilight

smiling but worn out-

on another continent

my family is playing Rang

as the maid lays out dinner,

and sleep will beckon

in just a while.

I am displaced.

Time is misplaced.

If it is the purple streaked

Dawn six strokes past midnight

Here in the US,

And the radiant glory of noon

Where she resides,

While the evening crow

Caws 5 p.m. in the country

I have left behind,

What is the real time?

Am I lagging behind

In time, in life, in fear,

Tagging after the bustling

Sun that sets too soon

In my homeland?

I used to fist the stars

And the sun and hide

Them in my bosom.

But is the sun really mine?

It visits me here

Once it has burst forth

On those it prefers

And then just

Sets here in the West.

Time escapes me.

The sun negates me.

(I think I made you up inside my head).