May 1: Every Day is Labor Day

19 responses to “May 1: Every Day is Labor Day”

1. MQ says:

   May 1, 2007 at 2:01 am

   This is one of the distinct qualities of Faiz’s poetry. He expresses anger without being angry, without shouting. He makes it sound more like a lover’s quarrel. Like when he says towards the end of the same poem (also quoted by you, approximately]:

   [quote]O Lord!
   Neither do I need a kingdom, nor palaces
   All I need is a place to live in dignity
   If this is OK with you, I swear I will obey all your commands
   If not, I will go and find another God [/quote]

   He does it so subtly. Any lesser poet would have been condemned to death for expressing such sentiments

2. Adnan Siddiqi says:

   May 1, 2007 at 1:20 am

   Khara houn aaj bhe roti k chaar harf liye

3. Adil Najam says:

   May 1, 2007 at 1:15 am

   Thank you MQ for the correction (you are right, I have made the change).

   And also for quoting one of my favorite Faiz poems….

   I am at the UN office in Bangkok right now and without my trusted Nuskha hai wafa, so I am quite sure that I am getting some of the words worng… but here are some of the poignant lines I recall…

   …
   “mairi naimataN tairiyaN doulataN nay
   maira naib tay aali-jaa haiN tou”….

   phair iss nimarnay tay kee beeti
   rabba sachiya kadi touN sochia aye

   ….

   tay jay naiN manda, tay phir rabb sachiya
   touN ja, hunn rabb meiN koi hour looRaN

4. MQ says:

   May 1, 2007 at 1:07 am

   The pictures in the post remind me of Faiz’s Punjabi poem:

   [quote]Rabba sachiya tuN te aakhiya si
   Ja o bandiya jag da shah haiN tuN [/quote]
   …

   [quote]O truthful Lord, you had promised
   “Go my servant, you are king of this world, and
   Whatever is in it yours …” [/quote]

5. MQ says:

   May 1, 2007 at 12:46 am

   Adil, I think the line is: HaiN talkh bohat …