Come with poet on journey of the heart

By Ibne Ahmad

February 19, 2017

Tum se roshan hai shaayari meri

Meray sheroun ki aabru tum ho

Romana Rumi has got a poetic temperament and writes in the most sober and emotionally plainspoken manner. I was taken aback, that despite having one heart she has colours of all the seasons inside her verses:

Bohat see Nikhatain zanjeer ki hain

Bohat see lzzatain taskheer ki hain

Aay Rumi Shayayray fitrat houn mein bhi

Diloun ki dharkanain tasveer ki hain

Her deeply moving poetry collection about life and its consolations, love’s pain and pleasure, appears to be more than a diffusion of words, and content. It’s a poetry that settles on the page very inaudibly, yet as we read on, it allows us to experience her innermost turbulence in the gentlest of ways. Any person who has ever loved somebody, or lost somebody, or both, will be gripped by it:

Yeh tasanno naheen haqeeqat hai

Haan mujay aap se mohabbat hai

Pooch laitay hain mera haal kabhi

Aap ki yeh bari anayat hai

One might deduce, of-course, that the pack of unhappy life incidents is merely another sign of her confessional custom of self-disclosure. But I believe what we see in her poetry is something deeper and more constructive: a longing to comprehend and give shape to an experience that defines her, an experience that is moral and social in nature. How we grieve alone tells us something about who we are together. Her poetry tells us that grief is not something merely to endure, but a vital facet of life:

Ratgagay hain jo meri ankhoun mein

Aagahi ka azaab hai logo

Yeh meri jagmagaati dunya bhi

Ek mukammal suraab hai logo

Dard ki dhoop mein jalnay ka hunar jaanti houn

Main nayee fikr kay suraj ka safar jaanti houn

Romana has the language-sense and knows how to employ simple words to deal with the difficult subjects. She knows how to be lighthearted and solemn at once. A blaze, a zephyr or a pleasure:

Janay kiun aulaaday aadam indinoun

Barsaray pakaar hai charoun taraf

Zindagi Mehsur ho kar reh gayee

Mout ki yalghaar hai charoun taraf

Har qadam par hai qatlay sidqo safa

Har qadam par hai qarbla sayeen

Jaanay kis waqt woh kis baat ko qanoon kahay

Mujay bas aap ki sarkar se darr lagta hai

Romana’s poetry has some beautiful truths about love and loss. We have all lost somebody, or love someone whom we dread losing, and so in the spaces offered by her poetry collection we are asked to provide our own pain, our own love, our own expectation, and this converts her work into a luminous reading experience:

Qissayay darday zindgaani likh

Apnay ashkoun se yeh kahani likh

Ab zameen par azaab ki surat

Ho gayee kiun yeh zindgaani likh

Khilaata raha koi taaza gulaab

Kaheen dil mein sholay bharaktay rahay

Darakhtoun pe aasayb hansta raha

Lahoo mein parinday parakhtay rahay

Chupa kar aansuoun ko muskarana

Haqeeqat mein yahi tu zindgi hai

Romana offers a romantic account of grief and healing; delicate verses of brilliance and beauty abound throughout her book:

Os ko zid hai keh na dekhay ga palat kar hargiz