An elegy for the missing snow of Kashmir, dedicated to the valley that dreams in white, and to every child, orchard, mountain, and heart still waiting for the gentle return of snow
Dr Aasif Ahmad
Chilai Kalan bowed before the sun this year,
The harshest days of winter disappeared.
The fire in heaven won the silent fight,
And robbed the valley of its robe of white.
O Kashmir fair, once crowned with silver grace,
A white-carpeted dream on nature’s face.
Your plains still wait with longing, open eyes,
For snow to fall from sympathetic skies.
The plants, the grass, the hay beneath the ground,
Once safe in snow, in silence tightly bound,
Now feel betrayed, as if the frost was fake,
An illusion winter promised but did not make.
The mountains too—some wore a fleeting veil,
Brief flakes that came like a forgotten tale.
They kissed the peaks and vanished in a sigh,
Gulmarg and Sonamarg alone can claim
A short snow visit, a fragile fame.
Tourists chase what little white remains,
While plains still thirst for frozen rains.
The children laugh no more at snowy dreams,
Snow fights survive now only in old scenes.
They argue, quarrel, plead each day,
“Take us to snow,” they cry and say.
Jokes are passed, smiles pretend to stay,
But truth is deeper in every way:
Snow is joy, a shared delight,
A happiness wrapped in crystal white.
This winter bare feels strangely wrong,
No silent flakes, no snowfall song.
Without the snow, the magic fades,
And dullness haunts the orchards, fields, and shades.
Each morning sun peeps bold and bright,
Enjoying days in gentle light.
It plays with chill, it laughs at frost,
Unaware of what the valley lost.
Leaving only memory drifting by.
Yet nights still whisper biting cold,
Aasif waits with a yearning heart,
A reminder of the winter old.
The darkness shivers, the silence sighs,
As stars stare down from frozen skies.
O snow, return, embrace the land,
Kiss every tree with a tender hand.
Lay once more your carpet wide,
Where beauty sleeps and hopes reside.
Missing the white that set Kashmir apart.
That shining calm, that silent glow,
The sacred charm of falling snow.
May heaven listen, may clouds unite,
And gift the earth its purest white.
Come soon, O snow, come soft, come slow—
Let Kashmir bloom beneath your glow.
Author: Suhail Farooq Khan, Advocate High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
Contact: su************@***il.com