Paan mint waft on a midnight terrace

intertwined souls in revelry or grief

The fired cogs of industry smog

and the burning exhale of relief

Qaddafi shine lights a theatre

illuminates the canopy sky

While in the west, afield

darkness casts its inky dye

Bokeh glimmer in the indigo

Travellers track through the night

Paratha rolls and late night ride

Then “here comes uncle, hide the pipe”

Looking down over this 

endless pressure-cooker sprawl

One man’s dreams fortified

and others enveloped in the pall

Daybreak kiss, the dreamers stir

That which burns, seduces me

A vivid summer plunge

to this day seared in memory

Falsa blush, and rooh afza

Crystal waters and thirsty crow

Kachi lassi assuage

And the sweetest drop of mango

The night’s duress soothed

Streets with people a mess

This giddy nocturnal existence

I finally turn in to rest

And only then,

And even until now,

The dreams coalesce.