बोल कि लब आज़ाद हैं तेरे,
बोल कि ज़बान अब तक तेरी
Say that your lips are unbound
Say these words are yours still
तेरा सुत्वां जिस्म है तेरा,
बोल कि जान अब तक तेरी है
That, firm and strong, this body is yours
Say that your life is still yours
देख के आहनगर कि दुकां में
तुन्द हैं शोले, सुर्ख है
See, in blacksmith's workshop,
how the embers burn red
खुलने लगे कुफलों के दहाने
फैला हर एक जंजीर का दामन
Cuffs are set to unlock
Fetters beginning to get loose
बोल ये थोड़ा वक़्त बहोत FAIZ
जिस्म-ओ-ज़बान की मौत से पहले
Say that this time is enough
Before voice and life are dead
बोल की सच जिंदा है अब तक
बोल जो कुछ कहना है कह ले
Say that the truth lives still
Say what you will
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Faiz Ahmed Faiz 'Bol ki lab aazad hain tere'
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
बोल की लब आज़ाद हैं तेरे ...
SpeakSpeak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.
See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,
And every chain begins to break.
Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.
Translated by Azfar Hussain http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/faiz.html
बोल की लब आज़ाद हैं तेरे ...
SpeakSpeak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.
See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,
And every chain begins to break.
Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.
Translated by Azfar Hussain http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/faiz.html
Faiz Ahmed Faiz on Last Night
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Last Night
Last night your lost memory visited my heart
as spring visits the wilderness quietly,
as the breeze echoes the silence of her footfalls in the desert,
as peace slowly, softly descends on one's sickness.
Translated by Azfar Hussain
Last Night
Last night your lost memory visited my heart
as spring visits the wilderness quietly,
as the breeze echoes the silence of her footfalls in the desert,
as peace slowly, softly descends on one's sickness.
Translated by Azfar Hussain
Azfar Hussain's translation of Faiz
Azfar Hussain's translation of Faiz
This is an excerpt from Reading About the World, Volume 2, edited by Paul Brians, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Azfar Hussain, Richard Law, Michael Myers, Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, and Susan Swan and published by Harcourt Brace Custom Books.
One of the foremost poets in the Indian sub-continent, Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in Sialkot in Pakistan. He studied philosophy and English literature, but poetry and politics preoccupied him more than anything else. For writing poetry that always antagonizes the ruling Žlite and challenges colonial and feudal values, like such rebellious writers as Ngugi of Kenya and Darwish of Palestine, Faiz had to go to jail repeatedly during both colonial and postcolonial times in Pakistan. Inspired by the Marxist ideology, Faiz's poetry exhibits a strong sense of commitment to lower-class people, yet it always maintains a unique beauty nourished by the long, rich tradition of Urdu literature. His love poems are as appealing as his political poems, and he is considered primarily responsible for shaping poetic diction in contemporary Urdu poetry. Which poems deal with love, and which ones with politics? What evidence is there that Faiz is a courageous poet? What is his attitude towards loneliness and death?
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/faiz.html
Loneliness
Loneliness like a good, old friend
visits my house to pour wine in the evening.
And we sit together, waiting for the moon,
and for your face to sparkle in every shadow.
This is an excerpt from Reading About the World, Volume 2, edited by Paul Brians, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Azfar Hussain, Richard Law, Michael Myers, Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, and Susan Swan and published by Harcourt Brace Custom Books.
One of the foremost poets in the Indian sub-continent, Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in Sialkot in Pakistan. He studied philosophy and English literature, but poetry and politics preoccupied him more than anything else. For writing poetry that always antagonizes the ruling Žlite and challenges colonial and feudal values, like such rebellious writers as Ngugi of Kenya and Darwish of Palestine, Faiz had to go to jail repeatedly during both colonial and postcolonial times in Pakistan. Inspired by the Marxist ideology, Faiz's poetry exhibits a strong sense of commitment to lower-class people, yet it always maintains a unique beauty nourished by the long, rich tradition of Urdu literature. His love poems are as appealing as his political poems, and he is considered primarily responsible for shaping poetic diction in contemporary Urdu poetry. Which poems deal with love, and which ones with politics? What evidence is there that Faiz is a courageous poet? What is his attitude towards loneliness and death?
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/faiz.html
Loneliness
Loneliness like a good, old friend
visits my house to pour wine in the evening.
And we sit together, waiting for the moon,
and for your face to sparkle in every shadow.
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