Women from the Dawoodi Bohra community are gifted writers. In order to celebrate this talent, on the occasion of World Poetry Day we held a competition wherein women were invited to pen their thoughts. We saw an overwhelming response, with a number of women sharing their original poems with us. Here are the top three:
Dear Little Feet
By Arwa Aliasgar
Dear little feet,
Floating around in weightlessness
You stretch at the membrane that encompasses all your existence,
Knowing awareness for the first time as the life force kicks in!
You yawn, you shuffle as if preparing for a boxing match.
You take your first breath (Breathe)… wiggle your toes… and begin a journey
Dear little feet, with a silver anklet
Tussling in the warmth of your purple blanket
The universe is drawn to you,
Promising kindness and love, as it stares into your eyes
Those eyes hold an eternity wisdom, yet all you do, is smile
Dear little feet in woollen socks
It's your first winter, the first feeling of cold
Your father's hands are warm, but just too big to hold
So you settle with a finger
Gripping it tightly, and giving with it a nod of trust, that he dare not take lightly
Oh little feet in rainy boots
Splashing water on your way to school
In converse, in leather, in black, in white
You thirst for knowledge.
And though you run towards more
You are not afraid to stop. Only to 'get set' and launch again.
Dear little feet in sneakers, in chappals, in heels!
Or sometime bare, as you strut the beach
A multifold of choices are knocking at your door
New roads unfold
As you build yourself up brick by brick, one step at a time.
Dear little feet holding the weight of two
Experiencing a deep sense of familiarity in the new
Like a memory, like hope
Like the permanence of energy, never created nor destroyed
Simply changing from one form to another.
Dear little feet with little feet on them
Love has a new definition now
You finally know that one soul can live in two bodies
Now every act is to protect
And every word is filled with care
You are addicted to becoming that person who'll always be there
Dear little feet that seem unstoppable
From sunrise to sunset
And many hours into the night
Guided by an internal compass pointing in a 100 directions
Covering an unimaginable distance
You are powered on nothing but courage and self-motivation.
(Sigh! (pause))
Dear little feet that can't keep up
Your one step is barely matching their two
And sometimes they'll slow down
But they have little feet of their on to chase around
So you wait patiently
Until they return from their adventures
Brimming with tales, they hope you will listen to attentively
Dear little feet massaged with coconut oil
You've leaned back on an easy chair
Resting on a little pillow
A pair of hands, pressing down in gratefulness
To relieve you
As you close your eyes for a much needed afternoon nap
Those eyes that filled with an eternity of wisdom
And yet, all you do is smile.
So all you little feet afraid of going too far
Don't hesitate. Just run.
Run until your feet take flight.
For you have a long road ahead and too many places to reach
And if ever, you find yourself in doubt
Don't worry. Don't shout
Just follow the foot prints she left behind
Those little feet, on the sands of time.
My Nightmare by @_insiya_._
I remember that rainy day
We were on the way
These clouds were so grey
I didn't know we had to pay
We were enjoying our drive
I was with my would be wife
OMG that car's light
Took everything away from my sight
I still think of you my lovely pair
My eyes seek for you everywhere
Whom to call, whom to say
Come back to me my bae
Musing About Love by @jamila_golwala
It's a night to ponder; a night to wonder
On what love will bet and what love will get?
A night full of dreams, a night full of tears
Will this night be different or swift into like any other?
Love said: "Love me, live me, cherish me."
Did it promise to love back or live till eternity?
It has phases of wonderment and sorrows.
Does love ever complain or lives only till 'morrow?
Love said: "It is a mystery, known to many
yet applauded only in history."
To give it all or give none, is love another
Word of losing yourself and coming undone?
