Listen to Sadaf read out the poem:
Tonight, let me write!
Let me write
With the burning flames
Of youthful passion
Under the silver balm
Of the crescent moon
Amidst the soothing fragrance
Of the spring air —
Tonight, let me write!
Let me write
Of the dark
Dreadful sleepless nights,
Of the days bygone
And the paths forsaken,
Of the one-way journeys
To strange lands —
Tonight, let me write!
Let me write
Of the hopeful eyes
And the desperate souls,
Of the severed limbs,
And the silenced songs,
Of the rising suns
And the falling stars,
Of the broken bridges
And the stifled voices,
Of the victims of humanity —
Tonight, let me write
Let me write Kashmir!
Dr. Sadaf Munshi is a US-based academic, writer and artist of Kashmiri-Indian origin, born and raised in Srinagar, where she completed her early education. She began her professional journey as a playwright for the state television Doordarshan in 1990’s while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Science. A deteriorating political situation in Kashmir forced her to leave her hometown. After completing an MA and an M.Phil. in Linguistics at the University of Delhi, she went to the United States to conduct doctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin. A person of multi-dimensional interests, Munshi has travelled extensively in India and Pakistan, besides other countries, studying language, music and culture. Munshi has published numerous social and political critiques and personal accounts on a wide range of topics related to language, society, culture, politics and gender. A polyglot and a poet, she writes in English, Urdu and Kashmiri. Some of her incisive pieces of satire were broadcast on the state television in Jammu & Kashmir. A self-taught visual artist and art critic, she has produced numerous pieces of art in oil, watercolor, and multimedia.
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