At the End – Rattle: Poetry

How can one ever begin at the end?

—Death is regeneration at the end

Waiz lives piety, prays five times a day

He knows not the joys of sin at the end

How do I sin—I am no Catholic

I will have no confession at the end

I am Muslim but don’t bow at the mosque

Will He give me salvation at the end?

Try but you cannot kill me, I’m Hindu

I have reincarnation at the end

Please bury me next to the synagogue

I too faced crucifixion at the end

The Pharaohs built palatial pyramids

They’d go in style they’d reckon at the end

Don’t burn, don’t bury, sink me in the sea

Maaz, no commemoration at the end

Notes: Waiz, in Urdu from Arabic, means preacher, homilist, adviser, admonisher, exhorter. Maaz is my takhallus (penname), from Arabic, and means asylum, refuge.