POEM: Pulwama, what’s ❤ got to do with it?

Pool With Two Figures — David Hockney

On Saint Valentine’s Day
When we were all a little poor for love
Adil, a fidayeen, bombed his broken heart
To reach a place he had booked in heaven

My friend Dil, a soldier
Looked around him in Pulwama and wondered
अगर फ़िरदौस बर-रू-ए-ज़मीं अस्त (If there is a paradise on earth)
What fresh hell is this?

Adil and Dil, two hearts asunder
With only a heartbeat in common