POETRY
Staying at Home on a Snowy Evening
by Jalal Tarar
My love tells me my feet are cold under the covers
The blankets in Lahore are not warm enough
To thaw the ice on my feet
I tell her I should take her to my village
To my parents’ blanket
Which is old and rough, but not rougher than these city walls
Its tatters sewn over
Mama and Baba tug at its edges, pretending to fight
Baba complains she hogs the blanket
She laughs, feigns innocence
Pressing her cold feet to his legs
But I know she steals the warmth to pull him closer
Baba is like me – he must be pulled closer
Or he will stay out in the cold all night
My feet thaw in their blanket
Until they kick me out
No, Lahore, your blankets are not warm enough
Even as I call them mine
They cannot warm me like my parents’ torn quilt
In their village without gas
And your fancy electric heaters
Lahore, you make me sleep in the cold
Jalal Tarar is a writer, poet, and student of law and history at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, originally from Sargodha. In his free time, he delivers tours of Lahore’s cultural sites and tutors high school students in the humanities. He is an avid fan of South Asian cricket and European football, and can be reached at jalaltarar1@gmail.com. His poetry can be found on his Instagram handle @articleoracle.