Annual of Urdu Studies, v. 4, 1984 p. 80.


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THE SOFT FRAGRANCE OF MY JASMINE

The soft fragrance of my jasmine floats with breeze,

is tickled by the fingers of breeze. It has set out to find your body. The soft fragrance of my jasmine has put chains on my feet;

it encircles my neck and wrists. The soft fragrance of my jasmine lies hidden in night's fog, permeates the dark cold. It slithers through dense leaves;

it has set out to find your body.

IQLEEMA

Iqleema,

born of the mother of Cain

and Abel--their sister,

but different.

Different between her thighs

and in her breasts, different

inside, in her uterus.

And the worth of all the differences?

One fattened, sacrificial lamb!

Iqleema stands on a blazing hill.

She's a prisoner in her body.

The sun burns her into the rock.

Look,

above the long thighs and rounded breasts,

above the labyrinth of the uterus,

Iqleema also has a head.

Allah, speak to Iqleema,

for once ask her something.

80


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