Test of Love

From the moving bike
I looked at the crescent moon;
The city is dotted with mosques
White, Red, and White...
Near Tahsinganj--my companion
couldn't say the name of the white mosque.
It was small yet looked beautiful to me.
May be it looked beautiful because of the moonlight.

At the cafe, he said Shias can skip namaz
They can read all five just once 
But we don't do that;
I think he felt a little pride while saying that.

Since I came in this city--I found
One always considers them superior
We don't know about Sunnis.
We don't know about Shias.
And many Hindus of the city--ignorant
about the battle of Karbala.
The rift is still wide apart
though apparent peace exists.

I asked him
"Can't you marry a Sunni girl?"
He said NO.
And I understood
Probably they suppressed their feelings
And the girl gradually moved towards a Sunni boy.

When uneasy situations appeared
in the midst of sensitive conversations
I changed topic abruptly.
As a third party
I said to myself
Why don't you guys just look at the Prophet?
Like the North Star
Like the Guiding Star...
Why do you need to focus on what happened aftermath?
As a third party
I sometimes feared
A day may come
When they will be put to their greatest test---
-----The test of love.

Lucknow, India