Postcard from Kashmir by Agha Shahid Ali

Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox,

My home a neat four by six inches.

I always loved neatness. Now i hold

The half inch Himalayas in my hand.

This is home. And this is closest 

I'll ever be to home. When i return,

The colours won't be so brilliant,

The jhelum's water so clean,

So ultramarine. My love

So overexposed.

And my memory will be a little

Out of focus, in it

A giant negative, black

And white, still undeveloped. 

Literary devices 

1. Irony: the word 'closest' in the line5 shows irony that only keeping a postcard of Kashmir is closest he can ever be to Kashmir. 

2. Internal rhyme: "inches", "neatness", "Himalayas".

3. Alliteration: 'hold', 'half inch', 'himalayas'