September 12, 2011
Ground Zero
After Sir Mohammed (Iqbal)
Twist your curls to an even fiery radiance
Break a few hearts, shatter all the senses
When passion is revealed, can beauty be concealed?
Unveil yourself
I’m a shell, my luster tarnished; am a shard of pottery
But I can be a royal pearl
You’re a vast ocean, not merely a brook like me—
To share a shore or to be a shoreless sea?
My song of spring is a scorched sigh!
I’ll be a skylark— fly
“Leave this garden at once,” that was the command
A world will take longer to mend; wait now for me
At Ground Zero
You’ll be embarrassed
Deed-Reckoner
But so will I, surely
Rafiq Kathwari translated Iqbal, from the Urdu, working with Professors Richard Howard and Frances Pritchett at Columbia University as well as many other well wishers and friends who helped with the nuances of transliterations.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 12:15 AM | Permalink
Comments
Powerful poem.
Posted by: Idra | Sep 12, 2011 9:44:49 AM
Nicely done.
Iqbal, once he is rescued from being "dreamer of Pakistan" and once we learn to ignore his mullah-pandering "anjuman e himayat e islam" poetry, is still a great poet...
Posted by: omar | Sep 12, 2011 9:54:00 AM
Nice to remember & pay tribute
Posted by: Javed ahmad jan | Sep 12, 2011 10:54:36 AM
Rafique,
Thanks for making this accessible.
It strikes me, however that the Garden was never quite what we picture, and the world may be well beyond mending. In any case, the time for waiting is certainly over.
Posted by: Brian | Sep 12, 2011 12:05:50 PM
"Iqbal, once he is rescued from being "dreamer of Pakistan" and once we learn to ignore his mullah-pandering "anjuman e himayat e islam" poetry, is still a great poet.."
Like Wagner? However, Iqbal was more directly involved in the horrific maelstrom that followed from his words (and still reverberate today). I find it difficult to ignore the man for the myth, but most Indians are happy to myopically focus on his Tarana-e-Hind and to pretend that he never wrote Tarana-e-Milli.
Posted by: Sam | Sep 13, 2011 3:16:36 PM
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