While I quiver in my little quilt like the sails in the sea song...The demons around me, laugh at me, possess me;
By Nazish Sabir
It is dark in my head
So dark are my thoughts
I can’t escape the cage
Helping me won’t help along
Drowning deep into this gloomy well
Maybe my soul has surrendered to this evil empire
Sabotaging my head
They say to let it all go
But to them, I can only squeak out,
“My insurrections are of no use!”
If aid did play any role in this guilt-game
This evil empire would have surrendered my head
Alas!
There’s misery all around
Any step ahead takes me back to the ground
Where all I see is the drought caused by my wicked soul
And the overthinker mind
Entirely lured by the beauty and vows of the world,
And its glitters;
We so wish to live and die for
By Ali Asghar Ghani
Yes, I talk not to humans less
but
invisible, immortal, insane companion
more
who is permanent inhabitant of
the locked room behind my eyes
Poems forever
Abu’l Hasan Yam n ud-D n Khusrau (1253-1325), better known as Amir Khusrau Dehlav, was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar from India. He has been called the “voice of India,” the “parrot of India” (Tuti-e-Hind), and the “father of Urdu literature.” Enjoy the translation of his verse Ay chehra-e zeba-e tu rashk-e butan-e azari;….
Baashad ki az behr-e khuda, su-e ghareeban bangari.
O you whose beautiful face is the envy of the idols of Azar
(Abraham’s father and famous idol maker);
You remain superior to my praise.
All over the world have I travelled;
Many a maiden’s love have I tasted;
Many a beauty-star have I seen; but you are something unique.
I have become you, and you me; I have become the body,
you the soul; So that none hereafter may say
that “I am someone and you someone else.”
Khusro a beggar, a stranger has come wandering to your town;
For the sake of god, have pity on this beggar
and do not turn him away from your door.
-Translation by Dr. Hadi Hasan
By Adan Fatima
The thunderstorm of my memories;
Wrecks me, kills me
While I quiver in my little quilt like the sails in the sea song
The demons around me, laugh at me, possess me;
And my loneliness eats me like a deadly prey
But I fight with my tears, being my only sword
Now look at me, I won my long-lost war
I changed from a shivering bird in the cold to a black swan
A black swan, that dances in the rain without fear
