unclassified i
neither one nor its other
sea nor sand
river nor land
father, my home
i leave behind
mother, this knot
i now unbind
my days of play
in your backyard over
your threshold strange
like a mountain range
days of laughter
left on stone
a shadow of vanished
flesh and bone
four carriers adorn
my traveling litter
and bear it on
shoulders that glitter
my very own
and those unknown
drift slowly
away from me
man nor woman
beast nor snake
fish nor fowl
real nor fake
take care, this home
was not for me
i leave now for
a far country
~ Waqas Khwaja
Waqas Khwaja is a professor of English at Agnes Scott College where he teaches Postcolonial Literature, British Romanticism, Victorian poetry and fiction, and Creative Writing. He has published three collections of poetry, the latest, No One Waits for the Train (Alhambra 2007), and edited several anthologies of Pakistani literature in translation. He was contributing translator and translation editor for Modern Poetry of Pakistan (Dalkey 2011), showcasing the work of 44 poets from Pakistan’s seven indigenous languages. He also guest edited a special issue on Pakistan for The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies (Spring 2011).