Every saint & prophet has known madness—
a chilling, restless, lone madness.
Majnoon, in rapture, cries out for Laila,
heart aflame with the stones’ madness.
Let the starved man set his field ablaze—
what won’t burn when you’ve sown madness?
Dear God, spare me the light of You—
I’ve tried and tried to disown madness.
Move deeper into Yaman’s darkness—
the tabla will rise to an unknown madness.
One cold night, they found her alone
hungry, trembling, in full-blown madness.
Follow him down the road of his exile;
the madman’s quiet in his own madness.
Shahid, my love, sing with restraint;
you haven’t learned to hone madness.
Adeeba Shahid Talukder is a poet, vocalist, and translator of Urdu and Persian poetry. She is the author of WHAT IS NOT BEAUTIFUL (Glass Poetry Press, 2018) and her debut collection, SHAHR-E-JAANAAN: THE CITY OF THE BELOVED (Tupelo Press, 2020), is a winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize. Adeeba has received fellowships from Kundiman and Poets House, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. She is currently training in Hindustani classical music under Ustad Salamat Ali, and is a New York State Council on the Arts grant recipient.
