Summary of the poem, "Snow on the Desert" (By Agha Shahid Ali")

The poet starts the poem with his friend serge telling about the sunlight which
lasts for seven minutes .
the time doesn't even stop for sun rays the serge try to tell poet that it is
better not to waste time as
once it goes it never comes back poet says that whenever he looks at the sky, he
sees the history, he sees
the past .He sees the clouds which keeps on moving. It shows that the time
doesn't stops it keeps on moving .
On January 19, 1987 in the morning when he was on his way to drop his sister at
tuscon airport .

It was all fog around, since it was the month of December, also there was all snow
around which had fallen all night.
Then the Ray of light blinded us. The source of the light was sun . The poet says
when he looked around he saw the
earth was covered with snow as if it covered with cocaine. the poet here uses the
metaphor by comparing snow with cocaine.

The colors of the desert plants were faded as they were covered with snow. Wine
which is extracted from cactus
is also frozen due to immense cold due to the snow which had fallen all night. It
is like snow in the desert
Even the desert which is pretty hot is now cold due to snow and winter This
symbolizes that every thing changes
with time and everyone need to adapt the changes with the change in time.

The Desert Smells Like Rain is a book and the poet has taken these lines from the
book. Basically, it describes
of the Papagos make wine. What I feel about these lines is that the syrup is the
experiences in the life of the Papagos
which later is used to make wine i.e.. memories. The jars are the minds of the
Papagos in which they preserve their memories,
good and bad. The lives of a tribal group is usually a difficult one and they are
a vulnerable group. After due course of time,
this memory becomes cloudy but the papagos are still able to remember the good
times.

The poet then talks about how nature has changed over time. What was once a sea, is
now a desert. The theme time is a destroyer is reflected here.
Amidst these rapid changes taking place, some things are still constant such as
the color of the sky which is relentlessly blue and the rays
of sunshine which are a million years old. Ever since the desert has been there,
the saguaros have been there too.
Saguaros typically live for 150 years and through generations, they have received
the memories from these rays of sunshine
with their arms wide open. Each ray has stored memories so old that it contains
the secrets of the planet's origin.
The saguaros are referred to humans because as the tribes are prone to massacre,
the saguaros are cut down in large scale to make wine.
The end here is related to the end of an era where the world was once magnificent
because of its natural beauty. That beauty has been
destroyed by what we call civilization. The beginning is compared to a new world
with rapid technological advancements and also, climate change.

Sameetah is poet's sister who is being dropped at the airport by the poet. In this
stanza the poet throws light on changing environmental conditions.
When they are on their way they observe trees covered by snow...they also see a
ocean that is being evaporated at an unimaginable rate because of
the detoriating conditions of the environment. Again here the theme of time being
a destroyer comes into picture as with passage of time only
degradation is caused to mother earth. Earth is starting forgetting its own
habitats, i.e. we humans.

However when he drops his sis at at the airport he again feels the pain of
seperation. Here the theme of migration and associated pain comes into picture.
On his way back he remembers the sees that were once present in a glorified
manner. In short the poet becomes nostalgic about the past.

The narrator talks about an incident which happened during the Bangladesh war.
During his time in early 1970's at Delhi ,
the poet along with his friend Saleem would go to music concerts of beghum akhtar.
1 day , During the concert there were
air raid warnings and sirens. The lights went off and The mike she was using
stoped working and so thus her voice was not so loud.
Inspite of all this the crowd did not lose interest . Thus it show that if people
do the thing with all their heart they will be achieve it inspite of any problem
in the way.

While remembering this old incident the poet says the low voiced singing feels like
she was dead back then only .
Then later on the narrator compares the moment of the lights coming back to a
situation of hearing a lost sea.
By all these examples he conveys his thoughts very deeply. He starts thinking
about the life .
He talks about the fact that nothing is permanent and immortal . He says we will
lose everything one day.
He takes time to think about everything the world and him have lost and everything
they are losing and everything they will lose 1 day.