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Elegy for Broken Affections by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi handwritten Urdu text by the author, early 1980's: *page 1*; *page 2* We're the ones
who wandered your roads with a store of young grief to look for old age. We felt that the wealth of grief offered shelter We knew that grief had power-- take some care, you can live on it. When we touched your dawn-light color fire burned in our fingers When we caught a glimpse of your nights the brightness of day dimmed When we looked at the gardens closely their colors changed of themselves-- Sheaves of wheat, green and gold turned out to be the earth's secret sin-- they awoke, importunate, urgent On the mountain-face, an image
when did the waves carve it? On the spring breeze face, your image so often formed, and broken! while the mountain-face remains Everywhere a crowd of watching
eyes,
half-open
staring heavy eyes, eyes red with fever tired and dreamy eyes Were we those eyes? Where did they come from? Everywhere, we looked only for you. On the mountain-face, your face carved by the moving waves a frightening bitter image all night it laughed at us all We--
not to speak of our store of grief, whatever we had we lost We're the ones who wandered your roads with a store of young grief to look for the moonlight silence of old age [ir:tibaat-e mansu;x ke mar;siyah-;xvaan] translated by Frances W. Pritchett |
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