Had ocean been my confidant

Had ocean been my confidant
I'd have given it
All of my truths for safekeeping

Tales i would have written
Of seashells picking girls on beaches
Whose golden bodies were
Like isles of dreamland
But whose fates were
Like lines drawn in sand.

Had ocean been my confidant
I'd have given it
All my loneliness
I'd have walked with the wind
Clasping its finger in my fist
On distant paths
From whence no one comes back!

Had ocean been my confidant
I'd have given it all my depths
Stepping into its limitless
Blue bosom
I'd have made earth into my bark
Sky into my sails
I'd have made the woeful moment
Of separation
A connecting link between you and me.

Had ocean been my confidant!

Poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
(Translated from the original Urdu by Satyapal Anand)