ALL DAY LONG....My poems for Shahid Ali...A tribute

this poem was written when he died on 8Dec 2001(published 16Dec 2001)
---------------------------------------------------------------
agha shahid ali
my bossom friend ,
i never saw
but often met,
as part of me,
for i too belong to
''the country without a post office''
and part of ''half inch himalayas''
is also mine.
agha shahid ali and me
were of same age
but he grew faster than me,
he knew all along
that when snow
on the lofty peaks melted
and apple blossom overtook the scene,
he had a rendezvous
with death and
agha shahid ali and
his illustrious ancestor,
rode a beutiful steed
and traversed the endless
meadows of time,
on the way to kashmir.