Dareechah-e-Nigaarish
Toronto, ON
Canada
talat
Here she comes, onto her “rooftop-terrace,” smiling
With a muted message in her fleeting glance !
This hazy air tinged with dusky reflections,
This desolate path … deserted lane … quiet evening,
The low wall of a house at the street corner,
Upon which is gently laid
A diffuse and silent spell !
This rooftop-terrace … familiar
With the sound of someone’s soft step,
This secluded place … echoing
With the strains of songs
Someone hums to herself !
The charisma of someone’s lips
Spreads dreamily on all sides
Like angel dust . . . light-specks of smiles,
Delirium raining down
From the sweet wine of someone’s gaze,
Someone’s slender, silver-bangled arm
Raised in a silent gesture of greeting !
With her elbows resting on the parapet,
And the air of a Diva,
Stands someone … coyly blushing and silent
With a muted message in her fleeting glance !
18th June, 1938.
Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan.
Majeed Amjad (1914-1974).
Translated by Talat Afroze from the original Urdu text of the poem “Ser-ay Baam”; p. 69, “Kulliyaat Majeed Amjad,” (c) 1988 by Majeed Amjad, Ed. Khawaja Mohammad Zakariya, Maawaraa Publishers, 3 Bahawalpur Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
A Twinkle in Her Eyes
Who can say
Why her eyes,
Those playmates of the hamlet where Beauty dwells,
Why her eyes smile that way ?
When notes arising from her soul,
That Temple-Palace of Music,
And traipsing through the land of glad tidings,
Mirthfully smothering the tinkling of their anklets,
Tip toe up, haltingly, secretively,
To the gates of her lips,
Why her gaze sparkles and smiles ?
Leaping over islands of silence
And wastelands of sealed lip pining,
When the silhouettes of desire
Come waltzing in
To nestle in an intimate moment’s nest,
Why her gaze sparkles and smiles ?
Her soul, that Sprite-Princess,
Neither lifts her veil
Nor voices her song
And when her heart’s ballad
Passes through distant, unexplored worlds
As the faint, lingering sounds of a flute …
Why her gaze sparkles and smiles !
8th December, 1952
Sahiwal, Punjab, PAKISTAN.
Majeed Amjad (1914 - 1974)
Translated by Talat Afroze from the original Urdu text of the poem “Akhiyaan Kiyoon Muskaa-ain”; p. 230, “Kulliyaat Majeed Amjad,” (c) 1988 by Majeed Amjad, Ed. Khawaja Mohammad Zakariya, Maawaraa Publishers, 3 Bahawalpur Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
Icon !
Where is she … ?!
That girl who stood on these ramparts years ago
Statuesque … iconic …besieged by the world
A deity … worshipped by the early glow of my dreams !
Where is she now ?
That crazy-headed rebellious Truth
With the restless, quivering eye lashes
Who came to refute the sham of this world.
Under these ramparts,
My breath is still patched and mended
By the soft breeze of her existence
Which once did battle against eternal stony walls
But I wonder where she rests now
That crazy-headed rebellious Truth ?
This is how young, unfolding lives
With their tinkling laughter
Are lost forever in a dark enduring slumber
What manner of sleep is this
Whose sea-waves slowly crumble and erode
All islands of the heart ?
What kind of dreams are these
That swim within this sleep
Floating back … returning again and again… forever in this deep slumber ?
Dreams ... whose childhood glow never fades away !!
9th June, 1970
(32 years after writing “On Her Rooftop-Terrace”).
Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan
Majeed Amjad (1914-1974).
Translated by Talat Afroze from the original Urdu text of the poem “Moortee”; p. 559, “Kulliyaat Majeed Amjad,” (c) 1988 by Majeed Amjad, Ed. Khawaja Mohammad Zakariya, Maawaraa Publishers, 3 Bahawalpur Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
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Dareechah-e-Nigaarish
Toronto, ON
Canada
talat