Category Archives: Poetry

The Seeker of Words

Published / by Jehangir

Yet again, its that time of year.

Wahrat-triggered insomnia crumbles my resistance and today, yet again, I must succumb to this irresistible urge to inflict my translations upon innocent stumblers-upon.

Sadly, it is Faiz Ahmed Faiz who today, yet again, has to suffer this posthumous ignominy – but that is just the way it is.

Aaj Ek Harf Ko – Faiz Ahmed Faiz

aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal

madh bhara harf koi, zeher bhara harf koi
dil-nashin harf koi, qeher bhara harf koi

aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…

harf-e-ulfat koi dildar-nazar ho jaise
jis se milti hai nazar bosa-e-lab ki surat
itna roshan ke sare-mauja-e-zar ho jaise
sohbat-e-yaar main aghaaz-e-tarab ki surat
harf-e-nafrat koi shamsheer-e-ghazab ho jaise,

aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…

ta abad shahre-sitam jis se tabah ho jayein
itna tareek ke shamshan ki shab ho jaise
lab pe laoon to mere honth siyah ho jayein
aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…

Here goes…

today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word

an intoxicating word, a venomous word
a bewitching word, a wrathful word

today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word

a word of desire that brings to mind my beloved's glance
meeting my gaze like a kiss on the lips
as radiant as the crest of a wave of gold
like the first stirrings of ecstasy in a lovers tryst
a word of hate slicing like a fearsome sword

today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word

a word that shall destroy these flourishing cities of oppression
a word as dark as the dusk over a cremation ground
a word that, if uttered, shall turn my lips black

today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word

Strangely enough, it is Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and not Ghalib, whose poems feature most on my blog, even though the latter is my favourite poet.

Shashi Kapoor, who self-confessedly did not know a single word of Urdu, did an amazing job in this version of Aaj Ek Harf Ko featured in Merchant-Ivory's Muhafiz/in Custody.

Enjoy !

Revolutions and Roosting Hawks

Published / by Jehangir

Watching the revolt in Egypt on TV while helping my son with his poetry assignment, I had a flashback. From the depths of memory a Persian ode translated by Khushwant Singh popped into my head. I had read it in the Illustrated Weekly in 1979 alongside a caricature of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi following the Iranian Revolution.

Think not, 0 King! thy sceptre or thy pow'r
one moment can arrest the destin'd hour !

Only time will tell whether the tumultuous events of the past week in the Middle East are genuinely popular movements, or are strings being pulled to replace politically-inconvenient stooge-dictators with politically-correct stooge-democracies?

Meanwhile enjoy the powerful imagery of Ted Hughes' ode to megalomaniac despots – the Hosni Mubaraks and the Ben Alis and their ilk.

Hawk Roosting*

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.
The convenience of the high trees!
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly –
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads –
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.

Just brilliant !

rests with owner. Provided gratis for educational purposes.

Return to The Land of Poems

Published / by Jehangir

Kashmir is famous for the lol* of Zooni, its poetess-queen, and Arnimal.
Rasul Mir and Mahjoor represent the peak of the romantic era.
*‘Lol’ may be considered a Kashmiri form of ‘Lyric’ poetry which is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.

hatyuk rath bu kadha,
naman tas bu malha,
hekya baar temkui,
su naazuk athanh peth

This kashmiri couplet was narrated to me years ago by the late Mohiuddin Shah, one of the most outstanding bureaucrats that Kashmir has produced. There is a bit of history associated with it, which I may relate at a later date. Meanwhile, permit me to attempt a translation:

If I slit my throat
to paint my beloveds' nails
Would she bear the strain
on her delicate hands?

A similar sentiment is echoed in this translation of a Kashmiri poem by Marion Doughty, an English traveller to the valley.

O that my blood were water, thou athirst !
And thou and I in some far desert land,
How would I shed it gladly, if but first
It touched thy lips before it reached the sand.

Urdu poetry is a goldmine of romantic imagery. Ghalib is said to have offered his Diwan in exchange for this couplet by his rival Momin.

tum mere paas hote ho goya
jab koi doosra nahin hota.

Then there is Ibn-e-Insha and his Farhad-meets-Freud ballad, Farz Karo.

farz karo hum ahl-e-wafaa ho
farz karo deewane ho
farz karo yeh dono baatein
jhooti ho afsane hon
farz karo yeh ji ki bipta
ji se jor sunai ho
farz karo abhi aur ho itni
aadhi humne chhupai ho
farz karo tumhe khush karne ke
dhoonde humne bahaane ho
farz karo yeh nain tumhare
sach-much ke maikhaane ho
farz karo yeh rog hai jhoota,
jhooti preet hamari ho
farz karo is preet ke rog mein
saans bhi hum pe bhaari ho
farz karo yeh jog bijog ka
humne dhong rachaaya ho
farz karo bas yahi haqeeqat
baqi sab kuch maaya ho

How about the great revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz with Teri Samundar Ankhon Mein.

ye dhoop kinara, sham dhale
milte hain dono waqt jahan,
jo raat na din, jo aaj na kal,
pal bhar ko amar,
pal bhar mein dhuan,
is dhoop kinare, pal do pal,
honton ki lapak,
baahon ki chanak,
ye mel hamara jhoot na sach,
kyon raaz karo, kyun dosh dharo,
kis kaaran jhooti baat karo,
jab teri samundar aankhon mein,
is shaam ka sooraj doobega,
sukh soenge ghar dar wale,
aur raahi apni raah lega

Let me dedicate the last poem to my wife:

The Land of Poems*
For just one glimpse of you,
The rosebud of your street
Has bloomed anew !
No songbird there to greet
Your rose, which blooms alone,
But in that land
Of poems, where have grown
My roses, and I stand
Within the shrine
Of secret meanings, hail !
How every verse of mine
The nightingale
Will sing, and none destroy
The ecstasy we share,
His house of joy
On heights none others dare.

* Persian Diwan of Mahmud Gami
(Translation by Nilla Cram Cook)

Update: Translations are available here.