Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 'A Prison Evening'

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

A Prison Evening by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Translated from the Urdu by Agha Shahid Ali

Each star a rung,
night comes down the spiral
staircase of the evening.
The breeze passes by so very close
as if someone just happened to speak of love.
In the courtyard,
the trees are absorbed refugees
embroidering maps of return on the sky.
On the roof,
the moon - lovingly, generously -
is turning the stars
into a dust of sheen.
From every corner, dark-green shadows,
in ripples, come towards me.
At any moment they may break over me,
like the waves of pain each time I remember
this separation from my lover.

This thought keeps consoling me:
though tyrants may command that lamps be smashed
in rooms where lovers are destined to meet,
they cannot snuff out the moon, so today,
nor tomorrow, no tyranny will succeed,
no poison of torture make me bitter,
if just one evening in prison
can be so strangely sweet,
if just one moment anywhere on this earth.


Zindan ki ek shaam

Shaam ke pecho-kham sitaron se
Zeena-zeena utar rahi hai raat
Yoon saba paas se guzarti hai
Jaise keh di kisi ne pyaar ki baat.
Sahn-e-zinda ke be-vatan ashjar
Sarnigun mahav hain banain mein
Damn-e-aasman pe nakshe-nigaar.

Shaan-e-baam par damakta hai
Meherban chandi ka dast-e-jameel
Khaak mein dhul gayi hai aabe-najoom
Noor mein dhul gaya hai ashr ka neel.
Sabz goshon mein neelgoon saaye
Lahlahate hain jis tarah dil mein
Mauj-e-dard-e-phirak-e-yaar aaye.

Dil se paiham khayal kahta hai
Itni shireen hai zindagi is pal
Zulm ka zahar gholnewale
Kamran ho sakenge aaj na kal
Jalvagahe-visaal ki shamayein
Vo bujha bhi chuke agar to kya
Chand ko gul karen, to hum jaane.

Comments

[janvanmoor.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm the one spreading nonsense all over lj.
but: maybe, once i've gotten deeper into shahid' poetry, i'll post some of it.
where did you get to know him, i.e. his poetry?

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

I was actually very lucky, because just when I was discovering Shahid's poetry, we had two writers in residence at college who were both madly in love with him. One of them had studied creative writing under him at Hamilton College in New York, and practically everything she spoke about in her lectures and workshops was related to Shahid. The other writer also reveres Shahid a lot, and analysed some of his poems in workshops. So it was a pretty wonderful introduction to someone who was just discovering his poetry :-)

(P.S.: Sorry for the late reply!)