Yeh sher seena kharashi se kam naheen hai mujay
Yeh kaam thora sa asaan hona chaheeyay tha
Ziaul Mustafa Turk’s poetry collection ‘Chiragh Pasay Shehr’ turns the commonplace experience into the sensory and passionate kaleidoscope of the poet’s personality.
He tries to take the writing of poetry into a new territory, and in doing so, accomplishes something extraordinary. This collection is both substantial and multifaceted, enhancing our knowledge of what poetics can encase and the power of language to express it:
Ajab hai gard guzashta dinoun ki chahtee naheen
Yeh kia keh subho tu hoti hai raat kat-ti naheen
Shabay doshanba hai aur apna khaan khali hai
Hamaray ghar koi mehmaan hona chayheeyay tha
All of the poems in the collection are innovative rejoinders to certain situations. There is a sparkle of ecstasy that runs through his poetry. Emotions fly fast and free in the collection:
Tumhara lams abhi mehfooz hai kaheen mug mein
Mehak rahee hai koi shakhay sandleen muj mein
Turk’s romantic portrayals are introverted footages of personal pleasures and fascination with private voyaging through his rich inner world. Sensorial and intellectual curiosity abounds in his poetic wanderings. It is a measure of Turk’s skill that the acute visual impact of his poetry is achieved by way of linguistic exactitude:
Naheen keh sirf Saba-o-Yemen se hota hua
Main tuj tak aaya hoon bhaghay aden se hota hua
Chamn mein hoon tu meri pouroun tak pohachnay lagay
Kisi ka lams golo yasman se hota hua
Meri hathaili meri unglioun tak aa gaya hai
Tumahra rangay badan payrahan se hota hua
His poetry is poignant, in a very visceral way. The following straightforward lines exhibit an aching silence and unspeakable pain of love as it occurs:
Hamari jalti hui aankhain bhi mulahaza houn
Hamara yaaray tarahdar dekhnay waalay
Der tak khud ko dekhna tha zaroor
Aayenay ko alag nadhaal kia
It is with touching everydayness that Turk expresses his emotional state. Flights of fancy, memory, nostalgia, dreams and desire are familiar secrets for him:
Main tu ab tak tujay leeyay huyay hoon
Janay tu ne kahan kia hai mujay
Phir usi dhun mein usi dhayan mein aa jaata hoon
Tujay milta houn tu osaan mein aa jaata hoon
Tu kisi subho cee aangan mein utar aati hai
Main kisi dhoop sa daalan mein aa jaata hoon
Turk’s linguistic dexterity endures throughout his whole poetry collection and his adroit touch also seems to evolve in correspondence with content, and doesn’t appear to be imposed on it:
Woh aik kous keh jo daira hui muj se
Kisi se ho na saka tha jo kaam muj se hua
Shaayad kisi ne dhoop ki chaadar lapate lee
Aaj aik bhi darakhat ka saaya naheen khula
Magar yeh khawb agar khawb hain tu kaisay hain
Keh jin ko deedayay baykhawb se alakqa naheen
The poet's diction is finely crafted and feels precise, so that while tonality varies greatly across the collection, there is, altogether, a sense that a singular voice underpins the work:
Sakoot se bhi sukhan ko nikaal laata hua
Yeh main hoon lohay shakasta se lafz uthata hua
Pehlay bayrabt lakeeroun ko kia lafz aur phir
Baysada lafz ko awaaz kia hai main ne
Roz ek nai awaaz nayay lehn mein dhalna
Aata hai hamain lafz ki poshaak badalna
There is something pleasant about this collection that opens itself up to the reader on a first reading and induces them to come back to it again and again.