I began writing poems in English during 1996 as an amateure. Ever since, I have continued writing poems with the encouragement of well wishers and friends of mine. I owe them for my success.

I chose poetry as a means to express my inner feelings and emotions of hope, happiness and inspiration.

For the critics, I would like to say that as many well-known poets of the past and the present, I too, have deviated from the conventional methods, in order not to be suppressed by the rigid control to air my feelings. Besides, "Free Verse Style" is not uncommon today.

Dear readers, if you get satisfaction or hear an echo of what's in your conscience from these verses that will be my reward.

ISBN: 99915-2-007-4

At a time when the world is undergoing tremendous transformation, even in the world of poetry and what poetry can express, mean or communicate, it is sometimes refreshing to return to conservatism, if only to come back to a defined status quo. In a world that sometimes appears to dictate the almost infallible axiom that alteration, often into what is called an ‘alternate' form, is a prerequisite of positive growth, it takes courage and determination to resist the siren call of following the trend.

As a poet, Ali Shareef carries with him not only the aspiration to communicate in verse, but also commitment towards the virtues of sound and rhyme. Those who have condemned poetic meter and heroic couplets to the trashcan would have to devote some time to serious cogitation on reading these poems that Mr. Ali Shareef has written. Even though modern poets who only offer transcendental thought or stream-of-consciousness versions of their observations of human condition may pronounce some of these poems as being slightly passé in style, it is possible to visualize them as being more classical than contemporary in that aspect.

Mr. Shareef has chosen, in this collection, to enlighten us not only on how things were, but also on how things are. That alone suffices in whetting our senses to enable us to perceive and discern the finger vibration in this collection grace notes wider ensemble of contemporary poetry.

As some one who has been privileged twice by being allowed twice to write forewords to two of these collections, I am honored indeed to present this collection to whoever is interested in playing or sitting on the bleachers of that larger stadium of poetry that some of us, at some time in our lives, inevitably come home to.

Ibrahim Waheed "Ogaru"
November 2000