Why Fly High? And Other Poems

By Sultana Raza

Why Fly High? 

Do you really need to fly?
Touch the essence of the sky
Why do you need to go so high?
	Enjoy the stream that passes by.

For attention do you vie?
Have you ever found out why?
On your heart can you rely?
Make florae your own ally.

Will you gravity defy?
Why do you want to try?
For some peace does your soul cry?
Be one with trees as they sigh.

Hid from core? Is that a lie?
From yourself are you just shy?
Connect to spirit through your eyes?
For your soul can never die.

Breathing Technique

Note: Breathing Technique was first published in the Buddhist Poetry Review in Vol. 2 Issue 1.

As
I breathe in your light, your peacefulness, your colours,
I breathe out my techniques, my strategies, my layers.

As
I breathe in your stillness, your emptiness, white spaces,
I breathe out my pigments, my fillers, dark phases.

As 
I breathe in your serenity, your harmony, your tranquillity,
I breathe out my stress, my discordance, my anxiety.

As
I breathe in your quietness, your profoundness, your calmness, 
I breathe out my anger, my fear, my darkness.

As 
I become replenished with peace, and harmony,
We begin to dissolve in the great eternity.

Pool of Memories

 Note: Pool of Memories was first published on pendemic.ie on 29 June 2020. 

Don’t worry, dear, your mummy is safe
Through the surface of a special pool
She can glimpse her dearest waifs;
Proud you’re doing so well at school.
As she wanders, chatting with fronds
She’s so content that you still care
To visit her favourite garden and pond
With your siblings. Don’t despair,
As soon as you feel some peace inside
She gets much calmer in her garden bright.
In dreams, unicorns can give you a ride
If you call for their help, day or night.
Waving and smiling, mum wishes you well,
In her heart, forever you’ll dwell.

Spirit Garden

Note: Spirit Garden was first published on pendemic.ie on 29 June 2020. 

Though physical figures may be gone,
Their love and memories still stay warm;
We urge you not to be forlorn,
Their consciousness is in another form.
They cherish many experiences
On this green earth with unique you;
Send wishes to friends of various
Types, and precious folks that they knew.
Perhaps kids play in gardens filled
With roses, and lilies, and daffodils
While grown-ups sang as birds trilled
Of their concerns for families still.
When you smile, their spirit heart spumes
With joy, as their contentment grows.
Your laughter makes hearts fully bloom.
When your mind’s calm, they’re at repose.

Author’s Note: Both poems above, Pool of Memories and Spirit Garden are excerpted from my manuscript, Paddy and Unicorn of EverMorn. As some people may have lost loved ones, perhaps these songs (that Nebula the Unicorn sings to Paddy during his adventures in EverMorn Land) will bring some solace to bereaved ones. ‘Pool of Memories’ is what Nebula the Unicorn said to Paddy about his mum who went to heaven when Paddy was about ten years old.

Of Indian origin, Sultana Raza’s poems have appeared in 100+ journals, including Columbia Journal, The New Verse News, London Grip, Classical Poetry Society, spillwords, Poetry24, Dissident Voice, and The Peacock Journal. Her fiction has received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Review, and has been published in Coldnoon Journal, Szirine, apertura, Entropy, and ensemble (in French). She has read her fiction/poems in India, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, England, Ireland, the US, and at CoNZealand.

Sultana Raza has an MA in English Literature. Her creative non-fiction has appeared in Literary Ladies Guides, Literary Yard, countercurrents.org, Litro, impspired, pendemic.ie, Gnarled Oak, Kashmir Times, and A Beautiful Space. Her 100+ articles (on art, theatre, film, and humanitarian issues) have appeared in English and French. An independent scholar, Sultana Raza has presented many papers related to Romanticism (Keats) and Fantasy (Tolkien) in international conferences.