Shaam
by
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Is tarha hai ki har ik ped koi mandir hai
Koi ujdaa hua benoor, puraanaa mandir
Dhoondtaa hai jo kharaabi ke bahaane kab se
Chaak har baam, har ek dar ka dam-e-aakhir hai
Aasmaan koi purohit hai, jo har baam tale
Jism par raakh male, maathe pe sindoor male
Sarnighoon baithaa hai chup chaap na jaane kab se
Is tarha hai ke pas-e-parda koi saahir hai
Jisne aafaaq pe failaayaa hai yoon seher ka daam
Daaman-e-waqt se paiwas hai yoon daaman-e-shaam
Ab kabhi sham bujhegi na andheraa hoga
Ab kabhi raat dhalegi na saweraa hoga
Aasmaan aas liye hai ki yeh jaadoo toote
Chup ki zanjeer kate, waqt ka daaman chhoote
De koi shankh duhaai, koi paayal bole
Koi but jaage, koi saanwli ghoongaht khole
Dusk
translated by
Mustansir Dalvi
It’s like this, every tree is a temple-
a bleak, old, ruined shrine, that seeks
under the guise of its own ruination
the last breath of every failing doorway,
every roof coming apart at the seams.
The sky is a priest, who, perched on every rooftop
anoints his body with ash, his brow with sindoor.
How long has he been silent, head bowed, no one knows;
it’s as if a conjurer, secreted behind a curtain,
has pulled a vast trick over the entire firmament
linking time’s mantle to the vestments of dusk.
Now will twilight never give way to darkness,
nor the night give way to dawn?
The sky still lives in hope for this spell to break,
for fetters of quietude to unfasten, for time’s fabric to unravel
for a sacred conch to blow, for the dancer’s anklets to sing
the idols awake, for the dusky maiden to come forth,
unveiled.
Translation and Transliteration © Mustansir Dalvi, 2013, All rights reserved.