Aged Indus on thine fettered shore
Down the planes the serpent roves,
Whilst the gods up-live, yours is
From the sand-bed, a blind dolphin.

The boat-bridge, like a steed's back
Saddled for ride, or a swinging cradle;
On the sheepskin blown afloat
The milkmen to the city vie the bank.

Every wave is filled with rubies
Water perfumed with musk,
From the river waft airs of ambergris
Thus spake Shah Latif of Bhit.

What else is Indian, from your name,
Continent, ocean, an Indies, -misnomers
Christopher Columbus, mistook
For the world he new discovered.

Herodotus fond, the Macedonian down,
Alexander Burnes, upstream
To the black-eyed damsels,
Or a Ranjit Singh his armies raised.

Vedas begin on your edge,
Sohnidrowned by the treacherous wave:
While fed the hungry, fertile lands
Water and wealth, go hand in hand.

While on your dried stream,
I behold your past, a love, though
Ancient gone, and by the sunset in desert
Once, it is said, you had flown henceforth.

Empires mighty, fabled loves,
On a withered time, I yet not mourn,
But as you surge, like my veins carry blood
Through my whole, - but alas! That boat-bridge
Could you once, tie for me, my last wish on thee?

-Remembering the Boat-Bridge on river Indus at Dera Ismail Khan.

Sadiqullah Khan
Peshawar
March 29,2014.

Sadiqullah Khan

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/that-boat-bridge-on-indus/