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.
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Comments
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I am in awe
From guest Ellen Clare (contact)
I love this last verse. Proof that no on can own our soul. Faiz, thank you for the courage and the heart to have written these lines. 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. -
From guest Sohini (contact)
So beautiful... I have no words to express what these lines make me feel. Only that I am fortunate to be living in world where there are men and women who can write like Faiz. Though I understand little of poetry, I feel that what he talks about is the best in humankind... of hope, faith, courage, liberty and love. -
This poet speaks directly to my own heart: "This thought keeps consoling me....No poison of torture make me bitter, if just one evening in prison can be so strangely sweet...". We all have prisons, and we all can decide how we will endure them...in despair and dejection, or in hope and aspiration, seeing beauty through the pain. This poet inspires courage in the face of cruelty, finds strength in "just one moment anywhere on this earth." Free verse is my own personal favorite writing style, and this is a most excellent expression of the form.
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Love this poem by Faiz. Actually, I love most of his poems. I'm not a Urdu-speaker, so some poems are quite difficult. But I quite accidentally found a website where translations of Faiz poetry by someone named Riz Rahim are regularly posted: The Guardian, the famous liberal newspaper of Great Britain. The Guardian has a 'Talk' section, and the one I found Faiz in is called 'Translated Poetry'. The site is difficult to get to but this one will take you to one of the translations I recently saw. You can work through this to get to other translations. People there seem to know Faiz's work pretty well, and like Rumi and other sufi poets. talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?7@218.AodVh9Hxm5A.10@.7747b06e/1001
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way ayo.,
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