1998-Requiem For A Lost Innocence

SOON IT WILL BE A NEW YEAR AGAIN
The last day of the year is here again
The day when a year’s worth of pain
A year’s worth of unaccomplished hopes
And a year’s worth of unrequited dreams
Come to an end…

I watch, as people from all walks of life
Regardless of their religion and creed
Banded together in a surreal vigil, watching
As the three black fingers of time move across its white face…

And for a fleeting moment, mankind is one again
Carrying each in their hearts a prayer, a vision and a wish
The wish for a better tomorrow, wrapped in a veil of friendship
And ablutionised they were, by the tears of joy…

The hour draws closer and closer
And on the earth on which I stand, I close my eyes
As I silently look back towards yesterday
And into all the days that I’ve been through…

I open my eyes once again
As I joyfully recites a sentence of a familiar prayer
For I realised now, that after all the pain filled days that I’ve been through
He lets me live to see this day

I can see it now
That through all the times that I wished I was never born
And even up to the point of suicide contemplation
I never stopped looking for that perfect day…

Soon it will be a New Year again
Another chance for me to sing and dance under the sun
Before quietly resuming my lifelong quest
To go and touch the infinite sky…

It’s time for me to leave this sang-froid of yesterday
And to start filling my heart with hopes and dreams
To start believing that He will always be there for us all
And to start searching for that long lost vermilion sunset

And I shall treasure all the pains and all the sufferings of yesterday
Like I treasure all those happy days under the sun in between them all
For memories will always be with us even after all the money in the world disappeared
And be with us will they, till the end of time…

Then suddenly, as the sky erupts in a shower of light
The last day of the year finally comes to an end
And as the entire planet celebrates the arrival of another golden year
One unknown soul walks quietly into the night…

SAIF MINTAKA
EARTH
1998


AWAY FROM MY NUMBERS
I stand alone in the surreal sunrise
As the traffic of this small little town finally caught up with me
With hesitations playing in my mind and doubts eating at my heart
I don’t know whether I should walk
Or should I fly or should I jump?
Yes, standing still is actually not an option to me
Ever since I started living my life as the student of Life
So here I am, clueless, voiceless
Waiting restlessly for a notion from above that may or may not come
I try to look around, but angry faceless corpses will eat at my face
I try to look back, but a dry, moss covered well is all that I see
And so I resume my surreal vigil once again
Focusing my eyes to the empty white horizon
Waiting for the first descending golden snowflakes to appear from the sky
So that when I resume my walk, I shall walk like a god
Away from his numbers…

SAIF MINTAKA
1998


THE RAIN CALLER
I see the coming days of a thousand happiness
Locked behind a single day of pain
I breathe in the air of unwanted pollution
Coming from the towering smokestack of ambition
Yet, after all that had happened in the afternoon of desire
I am still alone, faceless, defeated
Legacy of enemies that don’t really exist
But deep down inside of me
I only wish for tomorrow to be yesterday again
So that I could stay under the sun, for one more day…

SAIF MINTAKA
1998


THE MILLENNIUM’S END a.k.a. UNDER THE ECLIPSED SKY
I saw, in the sky, one fine morning
A dawning sun, still in its infancy

Then suddenly, the blazing red sky lost its lustre
From out of nowhere the black clouds appeared
Devouring all the light in the pale blue sky
The life-giving light, of the ever-glowing sun

And from this turmoil the night entity appeared
Edging closer and closer to the light of the day
Unleashing the might, of the clash of the Titans
Turning all the winds icy cold

Then lo, a circle within a circle appeared
Perched menacingly on the throne of clouds
Returning the dawn back into the darkness
As messages of hope departed to the sky

But from the turmoil the victor appeared
As the majestic glow returned to the mournful sky
And the ice-cold winds were now a fanfare of joy
As the unwanted one gracefully accepted defeat…

And thus ended a glorious battle
That signified the millennium’s end
In ways not yet understood…

SAIF MINTAKA
22nd AUGUST
1998