I Met A Man

I Met a man

Tall, he towered,

but worn, he shrank;

virtue paraded,

folly unmasked.

Spoke silk words,

but void his tune;

called forth angels-

devils answered soon.

Carried his name,

but vanished in the telling;

spoke of God,

drank with the Prince, rebelling.

I met a man—a paradox:

He is a living man;

He is a dead man;

He is the uncertain, present age.

Zubair Ahmad