Progressive Urdu Poetry of Faiz

Whirling Dervishes of Turkey


So many great things have been happening in the past weeks but I have not found time to blog about them. The major themes are live music (blues, acoustic, funk, folk, Pakistani aka Junoon!), the new joys of dating, and Sufism (I saw and met Salman Ahmad of Junoon who discussed some Sufi ideas and I'm going to see whirling dervishes from Konya, Turkey Monday night. I will most definitely blog about that event.). I am grateful for the richness and variety of experience in life. Here are some progressive Urdu poems by Faiz:

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.


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.

Speak

Speak, 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.

I don't know the title of the following excerpt of a poem but it is wonderful.

Powerless is the hand of the hunter, 
Helpless the hand of the plunderer of the flowers
The fragrance of the rose cannot remain imprisoned, 
The sweet song of the nightingale cannot be stopped.