Ephemeral Echoes

By Saad Ali

Ephemeral Echoes is an extension of Saad’s passion for poetry: a manifestation of his philosophy and intellectualism. The poems reflect on the schema of existence as a personification of sounds, where essence of existence is flux: flowing sounds. The poems are an expression of being—a testimony to existence regardless of its conditionalities—and relate to various facets of the human condition i.e. illusion, self, dichotomy, subjectivity, objectivity, singularity, multiplicity, morality and etcetera. The debut is an invitation to all of us to embark upon a reflective odyssey i.e. to further contemplate the intricacies of the temporariness of existence—individually and collectively.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546293057

Saad Ali

SAAD ALI (he/him) (b. 1980 CE in Okara, Pakistan) is a bilingual poet-philosopher & literary translator. He has been brought up and educated in the UK and Pakistan. He holds a BSc and an MSc in Management from the University of Leicester, UK. By profession, he is an Educationist and a Consultant (Academic Research, Management, Marketing & Communication). His work appears in The Ekphrastic Review, The Mackinaw, Synchronized Chaos, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Lotus-eater, BRAWL Lit, Pandemonium Journal, two poetry Anthologies by Kevin Watt (ed.), two poetry e-Anthologies at TER, and Poetry in English from Pakistan – a poetry anthology by Ilona Yusuf & Shafiq Naz (eds.). He has been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and Best Microfiction Anthology. His ekphrastic poetry has been showcased at the Bleeding Borders, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in Alberta, Canada. He has translated Lorette C. Luzajic’s ekphrastic work into Urdu. Some of his influences include: Vyasa, Homer, Attar, Rumi, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Freud, Jung, Kafka, Tagore, Lispector et alia. He enjoys learning different languages, travelling by train, and exploring cities/towns on foot. To know more about Ali and his work, please visit: www.saadalipoet.com (forthcoming) / @owlofpines (Facebook & Instagram).

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2018 Saad Ali. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/12/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-9303-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-9304-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-9305-7 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

For Anwaar, Memoona, Umair and Asim

Contents

Muse

Sound

All Ephemeral

Flux

Illusory Existence

Temptation

Interpretation and Translation

Scheme of Things

Without and Within

What We Are Doing Here

Plethora of Life Forms

Past, Present and Future

Same Sameness

Monologue

A Dialogue

Scenes from Earth

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

The Ride to Life

Emotions and Reasons: Dichotomy

Dreams

The Mirror

Jigsaw Puzzle

My World, Your World

A Lone Donkey

More than I, Less than You

Ignorance

Somewhere

Today

Room

Shadow

Owning the Ownership of the Own

Unwilling Submission

It and Is Are

May be

Dream of a Sunflower

Oak: A Short Story

Relativeness

Be a Man, Be a Woman

Nostalgia

Subjectivity

Have I?

If You Are

Render Me Mute

Innocence

This is What Happens

Dawn at Twelve Ante Meridiem

Exaggeration

Conversion

Femme Fatal

Shut Up

Departure

Reflexivity

Crimson Crescent

Fluctuating Flow

Reconciliation

Past Night

Let Me Say

Reminiscing and Remembrance

Murky Waters: Lonely is the World

Erosion

Subliminal

Reason to Live Thus Far

Shadow Hole

Settled and Broken

Joker

But Sometimes

Heart and Mind

You and I: Foreplay

This Town

Stars

Story Tellers of Today

I Am About

As far as Your Shadow: An Apology

I Do Not Know

Acknowledgement

Muse

I am ever found wrecked, as if:

Wishing for this and that.

But the urge

To be the supreme composer

Supersedes any established

And forthcoming notions

Of existence and being.

O Muse! Where art thou?

Amid the noise of this and that,

I remain ever nostalgic for thy sounds.

And the supreme weapons

Are ever inviting:

Colours will to be an eternal waterfall,

And canvas remains ever famished.

I do not desire to be forsaken.

Ah, there you are!

Be the god, be the priest,

Be the witch, be the witchdoctor,

Be what you will be now

—You will be what and why you will be

What and why you will be—

And render me a peacock in trance

To the tunes of thy wands,

To the fumes of thy potions,

And let it churn.

"What shalt thy verses be:

Composed or disoriented,

Contemplations and reflections,

Comprehensive or succinct,

Revealed and concealed,

Contradictions or concurrences,

Established and challenged,

Past and forthcoming,

Enigmas and stigmas—

I being the enigma,

Thou being the stigma?"

I, thy flute:

A loyal subject

To thy tango performing hands.

Blow some air into my embouchure hole

And make the holes perform waltz—

Ever resonating thy sounds.

"Who shalt thy verses be for:

Self or others,

Or either or neither?"

I, thy tabula rasa.

Let me be consumed by thy aurora,

As the sea waves are devoured

By the sand at the shore.

Sound

Sound:

Master is all intending

—Conscious, deliberate, sincere

And so forth—

It’s the acolytes,

Who are apparently ignorant

—Disabled, impatient, intolerant

And so forth.

The negligence

On part of the Master: