A solitary silver reed

A solitary silver reed
M. Yusuf Abbasi

Often a vision flashes
Across the dim-lit screen
Of my half awake mind
Swaying between present and past
A procession of mirrors
In the fast-fading eye
Of every ripple and wave
Burnished by moments
Of a past glory
Till a haze descends
And storms of dark centuries
From all sides
Come rushing on me
In tidal nightmares
And I am lost
In a thickening gloom
Till a beam of light
A luminous minaret
Beyond the abode of night
In tall majesty
A solitary silver reed
On the rim of horizon
Framed in the dawn
Of a spring sun
Over the desert expanse
In a promise of undying bloom