My entry for Silk Road Poetry Slam

Smooth sliding down the Silk
By Nabeel Khalid

Standing on the top of the Mindai Mountain
I can see my silk route
I will leave Singapurah on a carriage
With old friends and new

An alchemist in search of Gold
Air-borne with great insight
Cheeky townsfolk and crazy festivals
Hand-loomed carpets on which we dance

We dance wild in our khussas with their curled toes
Drink from porcelain bowls made by a man from Lanchou
Bangles play music as women cheer
Unaware of the missing caravans and lost merchandise

Children cry as pirates enter
They eye the remaining gold-threaded cloth;
The Ruby necklaces from Varanasi;
And expensive carpets from Persia

Disputes and deceitful companions
Leave us searching for a pirates trail
Tattered clothes; sand in feet
Mirage after mirage; deaths on schedule

Landslides arrive like automatic burials
Down glaciers on the Hindu Kush
We make it to palm trees and waterfalls
A lack of motivation met by lush green mountains

At the Meluhha I eventually arrive home
I taste the water of the ancient Indus
I wash my face; I close my eyes
And in my head; the journey begins again