These are the nights!



Sad heart, as evening,
Looks dull, bleak and dreary,
Stars wait for late moon.

Gray's poem "Elegy",
Reverberates -- Echoes,
Of all grand evenings:

When gorgeous Daphne,
Filled the hours with her presence,
And the night too danced...

Friends and my beloved,
Have left me all to myself,
And Gray's "Elegy".

Yet a ray lights up,
The sad embers of my quietude,
As the breeze whispers:

"Be not so downcast,
"Your beloved Daphne will come,
"To re-light your life".

"Patience is rewarded,
"By the Omnipotent God,
"True love is sheer joy!"

"Waste not your moments,
"When her promised love is there,
"Enjoy expectations!"

I rise up and sing,
"O yes! Those were the days"...sure:
And...These Are The Nights!

AUTHOR'S EXPLANATIONS:
*ELEGY: A reference to Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard".
Like several of my poems here, even this is about my first and to this day my unforgettable and everlasting love, Daphne John, of indelible memory.
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Submitted on October 09, 2013

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
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Quick analysis:

Scheme ABX BXX BXC XXB XCX XXX XXX XXD ABX DXB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 917
Words 162
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Muhammad Naveed Ahmed

PLEASE NOTE THAT I OWN THE COPY RIGHTS OF ALL MY POEMS PUBLISHED HERE.AUTHOR, AWARD WINNING INTERNATIONAL POET, RESEARCHER AND JOURNALIST, Muhammad Naveed Ahmed (Emmenay) was born on the 16th of December. He is the first of six children born to Muzaffar Ahmed and Fatima Qudsia Ahmed. He got his early education at two different schools in Rawalpindi notably the P.A.F. Model School, Chaklala, which is now known as the P.A.F. College, Chaklala. He passed his matriculation exams from the school with a slot among the top three positions. He was declared as the 'Best Student' of the school as well as the 'Best Debator' and the 'Best Speaker'(English and Urdu). He was also in the school's hockey, cricket and judo teams; and Secretary of the P.A.F. Amateur Drama Society. Muhammad NAVEED Ahmed passed his F.Sc. and B.A. exams from the distinguished F.G. Sir Syed College, Rawalpindi and then got his Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan -- securing First Divisions in all. He won the All Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Centenary Celebrations Speech Contest with an extempore speech "The Quaid As I See Him" in 1976. He then sat for the tough Central Superior Services (CSS)Competitive Examination of the Federal Public Service Commission, Islamabad and passed the written, psychological tests and final interview and passed with an aggregate of 75 per cent marks. He has worked in almost all the major English language newspapers of Pakistan starting with 'The Muslim' in 1982. He also worked in 'Dawn' and 'The News International' holding senior editorial positions in both. He has been writing editorials, articles, short stories, poems and features from 1980 onwards on topics ranging from national politics and international affairs to sports, films and culture. He has also written film, drama and book reviews for 'The Nation', 'The Muslim', 'The Frontier Post', 'Dawn' and 'The News International'. He has also worked in the 'Gulf News' newspaper and the 'Gulf Weekly' in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He also edited the first 'Dubai Airshow' journal at the time of the first airshow in 1993. When contacted by well known journalist and politician Mushahid Hussain Sayed in the 1990s and offered a job as Senior Research Fellow in the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Naveed opted to join the government's psy-warfare campaign aimed at supporting the freedom struggle of the Kashmiris in the occupied Indian territory. He spoke and wrote on the Kashmir issue at the Stimson Center's South Asia Internet Forum (SAIF), the Brookings Institution, the Asia Study Circle and the Dale Carnegie Institute for Peace, USA, during his stint as Senior Research Fellow affiliated with the Pakistan government's Ministry of Information in Islamabad. He also worked with well known social worker and gifted orator, Javed Jabbar, when he replaced Mushahid Hussain as the federal information minister in 1999-2000. Naveed is mostly known for his poems in English, his horror/detective short stories and his column "The Hindu-Jewish Conspiracy" published in 'The News International' in 2002. Naveed is the author of two books. One is a selected compilation of his poems titled "Unheard Melodies". The other is a informative research-oriented book: "Kashmir the Vailing Valley." Both the books were published from Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1999. The International Library of Poetry based in Maryland, Baltimore (USA), has published his poems in all its anthologies starting from 1997. His poems have also been brought out in the audio-CD format by the International Library of Poetry. He has been invited by the ILP to officiate as judge in the Annual Poetry Bash at New York's Radio City Hall starting 2000 onwards. He is featured in the International Poetry Hall of Fame of Maryland, Baltimore (USA). Naveed (Whose name is also spelt as NAVID) has collaborated in several haiku competitions with acclaimed U.S. poetess Deborah Russell and poet Michael Rehling since 2001. He is also a member of another well known American poet Michael Rehling's Haikuhut (www.haikuhut.com) and the Ameen Rihani International Foundation (USA). Naveed had a personal rapport with the well-known Pakistani poetess Parveen Shakir during and after his training at the Civil Services Academy in Lahore. He was also a long-distance friend of the late English poet Daud Kamal of Peshawar. Naveed firmly believes in human values, virtues, tolerance, friendship, love and the mystical significance of religion in leading an upright life. His poetry and prose reflect his approach on life and living. The poet's role model is Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). He also holds in high regard, the fourth Caliph of Islam, known as Ali bin Abu Talib along with Abu Bakr, Omar bin Khattab, Usman (Ali's predecessors in the era of the first caliphate rule of Islam. He also admires Fatima (Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) daughter and her two sons, Hasan and Hussain, especially Hussain, who was marty more…

All Muhammad Naveed Ahmed poems | Muhammad Naveed Ahmed Books

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