Raza Rumi
Aggrieved by the recent sinister, senseless violence and brutal murders in Karachi, this is my feeble attempt at poetic expression.
I have also trans-created this Urdu poem below titled Adrift.
Jal gaya – tha ik roshniyon ka shaher
Jal gaya – tha ik roshniyon ka shaher
Bujh gaye kitnay jaltay aur adh-jalay chiragh
Magar kotwaal-i-shaher ne mur kar na dekhaJism kis ka, khoon kahan aur maut kaisee?
Yeh qatl na tha dosto
Yeh qatl hai ik ehad ka
Yeh nohaa hai insaniyat kaInsaniyat ka khatma karnay walay jantay nahee
Insaan marta hai – bhujta naheeAhle-hawas aur ahle-dil
Huay sab ke sab, aseer-i-shab-i-siyahaur ham
roshniyon ke muntazir
bhujtey jugnoo-on ko dhoondtay
thakay haray
gharon ka rasta bhool gaye
And here is a version trans-created in English
Adrift
Once a city of lights, stands ruined
Lamps – lit and half-lit, all extinguished
And the guardians of the city, unmovedWhich body, what blood and whose death?
This was not a murder my friends
This was the murder of our times
A prolonged elegy of humanityThose hell-bent on erasing humanity, are, unaware
Man dies but cannot be lostThe bleeding hearts and the hearts with no remorse
All trapped in the darkness of the nightAnd we the forlorn
Wait for the light
Attempting to seek dying fireflies
Tired, exhausted
Lost on our way home!
Raza Rumi blogs at Jahane Rumi where this was first published.
MQM’s violent action in Karachi on May 12, 2007 are beyond deplorable. Time and time again they have proved that they are not a political movement but a mafia. Seeing live pictures of MQM members roaming around the streets of Karachi like armed bandits and thugs seemed more like visuals from Iraq or Gaza or Ethiopia. Has it come down to this state that because of a dubious leader sitting thousands of miles in the UK, first orders his gang-bangers in Karachi to shoot about, kill and then he cries with alligator tears into the telephone in a so-called speech to his followers? Shame on MQM, same on the British Government who have legitimized a criminal mafia boss by giving him British citizenship and bigger shame on the President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who chose to sit idly by while innocent people kept on dying in Karachi and that too live on TV. The topper for me is still that according to reports President Musharraf was on-line with Altaf Hussein in London while people were being killed in Karachi and then the very next day Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz exclusively telephones Altaf to ”condole” deaths in Karachi? What a sham! What a shame. Sorry does not count here only strict & swift justice against the known killers does!
what aaj tv failed to show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=579i9yHGTdQ
we as a nation, (if we are one) are a “beghairat” lot. that is why we like boot-rule rather than self rule. we are always supportive of the one who wields power and find faults with the weaker (means unarmed)sections of the society.ghairatmand nations like russia had two revolutions in a century. we had none in the past thousand years. charte suraj ke pujari hain hum.jee hazoori zindabad.
Beautiful poetry and so apt to the current situation in Pakistan. It is wonderful to see how grief, shock and disappointment could be channelised and expressed beautifully in the form of poetry instead of acts of violence. keep up the good work.
Adnan – The accusation on Ahmed Faraz was that he should resign from the National Book Foundation if he disagreed with with a military dictator. At this stage he said he worked for a state institution not an army ruler. The premise by MNA Bushra Rahman was the Ahmed Faraz should repeat the past experience and prefer going into exile rather than work for the military dictator. Actually earning a livelihood is enshrined in basic human right charter
Faraz was not silent during the interview and openly admitted having written freely against the army during the present rule. Where do you get the impression that he was silent during the interview or the even the last 20 years.
You are probably not serious about Ahmed Faraz appear in a commercial advert, having a smile and also make some money. If you are, however, serious, then Ahmed Faraz probably should go into exile.
baqool-e-Faiz if the state slaps censorship on free speech, then the poets put power of speech in the chains that shackled them to their cells and these chains did the talking for them; the entire nation is wearing a different look after March 09 and May 12 incidents. I am confident that civil society will emerge victorious
yeh chaar din kee khudaai to koee baat naheen (Faiz)