Ms Bhutto - Since Your Exile
In reply to Benazir Bhutto’s poem written in her exile on her 50th Birthday
By Kazi Ayaz Mahessar, 24-6-2003



Since you are exiled
We are living in the dark
The dark that frightens
Our hearts, souls and minds
The dark that eclipses
Our hopes of freedom
Our desire for democracy
Our dreams of peace and progress
With you, our hopes and dreams
Are all exiled.

The might of the dictator
Knows no limits
The parliament is hijacked
The constitution is tailored
The judges are bought
The justice is preyed
Under the claws of hawk
And his proxy vultures
They have no shame
Eating upon the flesh
Of their own motherland.

Our rights have been attacked
And imprisoned
By our very defenders
The people in uniform
The servants of state
Have become our masters
Once more

Keeping up the legacy
Of the brutes and barbarians
Those who divided the country
Martyred their own countrymen
Raped their own sisters
The daughters of Bengal
The daughters of Pakistan
Those who martyred Baba
The most beloved leader of all
Those who martyred his brave sons
One in exile and the other near his home
Those who sent his daughter
In exile before and exile again
Those who ripped our hearts out
Those who darkened our eyes
And numbed our ears
Those who cuffed our hands
And chained our freedom

They are back again
With all their batteries
Of might and force
To mutilate us under their feet
To tear the pages of our constitution
And throw them
In the corridors of Parliament!

But we have faith
We can defeat their evil designs
With courage and defiance
Like Marvi of Sindh
The desert winds
Are not so dry this time
We feel the fragrance of rain
We feel the winds of change
That will free you of your exile
And free us of ours!

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