gold on the back of a leaf. and you.

that night. he sat next to me. rushing slowly. in yellow dusk. spun in gold glass. passion of citrus tongue. cloying and cutting. doe iris staring in harmony with his mouth. — meryem nuh, his portrait

home. the ground in me.    a dust jewel. halfway here|there.    “half Kashmiri between two Kashmiris.”    a friend’s voice echoes in jest.    ho roshan-o-azad tera gulsitan, jaanan.    my mother's honey knifed words to me.    words of lover’s sin. soaked in karkade.    why does home. always keep running in    blood feet away from me?     — meryem nuh, qismat and roots

chanting in gold soaked honey.    my skin stretching back to memory.    asking. of chords. blooming wide open.    feeling you push against almost there body.    a committed hunger for the flesh.    not always mine.     — meryem nuh, i remember|when did     you cheat on me?

sound of bodies. rushing in two waters.    silk skin. the clemency of ivory.    crescendo hanging by a thread.    wet sunset of a garnet peach.    inside a lavender lamp. looking through trembling forest. soaking    in quartered light. — meryem nuh, ‘suspended daydream’

Insha Allah Khan ‘Insha’ agyaar se karte ho mere saamne baatein mujh par yeh lage karne naya tum sitam achha jo shakhs muqim-e-raah-e-dildaar zahid firdaus lage na un ko na baagh-e-iram achha translation // you talk to strangers now in front of me this new injustice a fitting one you are inflicting on me the person who is a traveler of the path of love, oh priest nor paradise nor the garden of Eden pleases him