Two gods

A verse by the Punjab poet Ustad Daman, written in honour of General Zia and quoted in a very good article about him in Dawn:

mery mulk de do khuda
la elah te martial la
ik rehnda a arshan utthay
duja rehnda farshan uttay

Even if you don’t know Punjabi, if you know the first kalma you will here the echos in the second line. Translation:

My country has two gods
the heavenly one and martial law
one lives in the heavens
and the other here on earth

In those innocent days the earthly god was a tangible one.