Kites
For Arif,
We stand on the roof of the house,
by the doves in their pens, look out
across Lahore city. It’s hard
to believe that here was once thought
'out of town' as you advised me.
We wave to the neighbours on their roof
toying with Kalashnikovs; they are,
I’m told, good people, friendly folk,
and soon tire of putting holes in cans.
This is kite-flying time, late March,
the sky palest forget-me-not;
mosques and minarets white, silent.
Not just two or three kites but scores
hang fluttering cheerful in space;
some chase after others it seems,
though why I couldn’t understand,
not being as yet in the know.
And gidh, vultures and chil, the kites
we know only from the Welsh hills,
drift round hunting for their next scraps,
their eyes fixed on the dusty streets.
Our eyes go back up to the kites,
raspberry, mustard, holly green,
to see one string cut, head tumble,
by the ground glass, I’m proudly told,
near its neighbour’s triumphant neck.
The roar from the streets and roof tops
alike drifts up into the blue.
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