Afzal Moolla’s most recent poem to appear here was “Old Sof’Town” (May 2016) 

haggard hope
By Afzal Moolla

trudging along, vanquished attempts at being strong,
stumbling through, the fogged gaze of the untrue,
falling down, picking up pieces of my broken frown,
standing up, in the sleety rains, clinging onto hope’s slippery reins,
today, tomorrow, as warm blood flows through these veins,
haggard hope, a constant, remains . . .