POETRY (LAMENT)

Ajmal Khattak's humble 'hujra' at his ancestral village in Akora Khattak. This famous progressive Pashtun poet faced a barrage of criticism during his lifetime for having made money from this country and that. This picture provides an answer to his thoughtless critics. Incidentally, this was my first work that I posted on my blog.

Feryad  (Lament!)

A famous lyrical revolutionary poem by the famous Pashtun poet Ajmal Khattak (RIP). 

(Da lweyu lweyu Qudratuna Rabba

Yo thamanna da awredey she' ka na)

Translated By: Nasser Yousaf

O Lord of all expansive wonders!

May Thou grant to hear a wish, I wonder

I lay down my life to cherish Thy glum evening

Will Thou see somebody’s heartache, I wonder

                                      

Through Thy windstorms and hurricanes

                                      

I wish to send a pressing plaint that I have

                                      

With the thoughts of Thy fast flowing rivers

                                      

My welled-up eyes now need to be drained out

Lest a word of mouth is construed an apostasy

Lest crying to Thou is construed an apostasy

                                     

The bounties of Thy heavens overwhelm me

                                     

But I cry out here with pangs of hunger

                                     

I seek refuge from the scorpions of Thy hell,  

                                     

But scorpions of earth make me cry no end

Here we carry hell of an empty stomach

But there we shall be fodder in hell

Here we are devoured by the butchers

There we shall be devoured by serpents

Neither black nor we could stay white

Neither worldly nor we could stay upright

                                     

To Thy harsh verdicts I submit and bow

                                     

But I wonder which law shall I follow

                                    

Thy Qarun must go deep down in earth

                                     

But at my head should be a Qarun to follow

To Thy Will I bow, O my lord

I shall twine a rock to my stomach

But finding another serpent at the treasures

As a fallible mortal, how could I stay quiet

                                   

My heart is heavy and it is hard to restrain it

                                   

Let my mouth stay broke rather than be shut

To those dying in the hope of your heaven

By the wails of those starving, I vow then

No more can I bear to see them in this hell then

By the spires of Thy Kingdom, I vow then

                                     

Either on the vast breast of this earth

                                     

Grant me my life, my heaven

                                     

Or before death caused by the hell of hunger

                                     

Grant me the freedom to scream in anger

To let those starving get sated with Thy blessings

Or let my vital remains be feasted upon by ravens