Aadil Ghulam Bhat (Poet and Author) It is the night that ruined all, Pity, I, the victim—not for fear of missing out, But for the curfewed nights I bear, Where thundered smoke and shells kissed the air, And fear unraveled itself, thread by thread. She whispered, “Love, take my scarf,” Oh, dear lady, with red-stained hands, Blood waits in the creases, Henna once danced on her palms, Each line a promise of tomorrow. But nights grow long, and the ink Stamped my heart with her silent sorrow. Her last portrait, eyes rimmed in blood, Lips cut by the edges of a cruel world, She held a picture of mine—a relic, In her trembling hands, As if to stitch the fragments of our days. But time, oh time, you are a thief, Leaving only shadows in her wake. And I, a mourner in this darkened hour, Sing her song, the one she left unsung, In a world that’s lost its dawn.