Light it on fire but not the one that burns or chars or engulfs and gives birth to thick smoke or turns wood to ash or makes mothers cry or eats the lungs of firemen or melts the flesh, not the one meant for devils or the one that rages or forces you to walk the streets barefoot or pushes you to drown in the sea or makes orphans or feeds on oxygen and swings in backdrafts, not the one that has political opinions or is held in torches of statues or meant for cigarettes or flamethrowers, not the one that hates jungles or forests or the one we practice for in school or wrings alarms for screams. Light it on fire with a cool flame so orange and yellow are carried by avian winds, and embraced by the trees, and reflected in the water – light it on fire with a golden touch.
Adil Musabji was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. His parents emigrated from India in the 1970s. His poems have appeared in the Eunoia Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, and Blue Minaret. Several of his poems composed during a visit to Iraq are included in Jewels & Pearls in the History of the Jalalis (Sayyid Jalali Library Press, 2025).