Strangers' Dining Table

Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen

Strangers met at a dining table

My heart's table.

The eldest was turbaned

The second ascetic

The third erotic

The fourth a drunkard

The fifth omniscient

The sixth comic

The seventh a magician.

Instead of a joyful talk

On the affairs of birds, women and the life after death

The whole lot exchanged insults and calling names.

Then one of them proposed firing …

I was about to die!

I was the eighth … the dumb!