A collection full of real poetic feelings

Jehra dil nun samjay na dldari nun
Jeevan ohday naal guzari janay aaun
Nisar Turabi is a poet at a time when there is a great deal of writing of verse and very little real poetic feeling. Readers wish they were like him and think his heart was theirs. His lyrical volume ‘Apni Chaan Da Saik’ rings throughout with nostalgic poetry arising from moments when the sense of a contained self is destabilised by an external force.
Some verses roll into the fantastic, instinct with heartbreaking connotations producing refreshing poetry. These songs of love and the elements which push the pursuit to achieve it are not believed to be the first persistent instance of Turabi’s writing:
Sajnaan naal khloun de mousam aa gae nein
Zagham dilaan de dhoun de mousam aa gae nein
Nafrat di jay lehr na howay
Ronda koi shehr na howay
Nisar Turabi is not only a poet but a painter. His knowledge of word value is as profound as his knowledge of colour, and it is largely for this reason that he has carried over the eye and method of art into the field of poetry, and the bright, breathing, fascinating verses he has created seem so real:
Khoray kehri wa jhali aay meray shehr dawalay
Apnay sar te digan lug payay apni chatt de baalay
In a more or less overbearing mood the poet marches and riots through his poetry, carrying off beauty in his verses as passionately as ever. He derives from several sources of the Punjabi tradition. Occasionally, he does capture the traditional Sufi mood as well:
Chad jug de jaghray jharay
Sachian de ho ja naray
The poet is the master of a style: that is the most remarkable thing about him. His gift for combining words is fantastic. Even when you do not know what he is saying, you know that he is saying it well:
Khushian rangay thaal ni maayay
Tur gaeay changay saal ni maayay
Turabi’s poetry amiable and sometimes striking as it is — does always satisfy the readers’ expectations. When you read a few of his poetry you get the impression from the richness of his verbal expression that he is a poet of perceptive traits and struck by a sort of gloom:
Jiddar jaawan banda hasda disda naein
Zinda rehn da koi rusta disda naein
All dawalay jungle ugda jaanda aay
Manoun te eh shehr vi wasda disda naein
His best poetry seems to dissolve on the mind like the flakes of snow; and the reader seems always to know that the poet is writing well. The poet it seems has the faculty for self-criticism. One imagines him giving off his poetry as spontaneously as perspiration and with as little application of the intellect:
Sufnay ho gayay hun te peeng hulaaray nein
Shehraan choun chobaaray mukday jaanday nein
Jithay beh kay dukh sukh pholay purkhaan nein
Oh chappar oh dharay mukday jaanday nein
His poetry is filled with energy, and seems to have been written with great zest, bursting with overtones. Often it communicates no intensity but that of the poet working eagerly with his words. This poet indirectly reveals his inward emotional self while he is aware of the present century:
Wailay de huth dour way maahi
Bakhtaan te ki zour way maahi
The picture he gives of his own time is invariably vivid, and almost invariably unpleasant. He goes out to it with all the energy of his mind, but his inner self withdraws and preserves itself remote and immune:
Wangaan de lashkaaray mukday jaanday nein
Basti choun wanjaaray mukday jaanday nein.