Sunday, October 28, 2007

listening, aphrodite?

when you were not nigh
all was such as it is
the limitless horizon, limitless
the unending road, unending
the empty goblet, empty

and now
the goblet, the road, the color of the sky
is the color of my heart before it bleeds to death

crystal, the color of sweet reunion
and the gray of a desolate moment;
the color of autumn leaves, of a thorny desert
and the flaming red of a rosery in bloom
the color of death
the color of blood
the color of a moonless night

the horizon, the road, the goblet
a story of a thousand tears
of throbbing pain;
a reflection in the mirror
treacherous, deviant, changing every instant

now
that you are come
stay
so that some color, some mood, something
gains permanence
and once again
everything is as it is
the limitless horizon, limitless
the unending road, unending
the empty goblet, empty

- A transliteration of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's 'Rung Hai Dil Ka Meray'

2 comments:

sista said...

saa'at-e-bezaar kaa rang

absolutely! Dil se mujh ko bedilli hai...(thesis, antibloodythesis - dil and bedilli - qatil and dildar -there and not-there - all the same, all same. unbearable pain and indescribable beauty) God and Satan? (HaHA!)

Nothing beats the original though. The sheer naked beauty, reality, cadence of the urdu verse is hard to match in a translation.

Phir se ik baar har ik cheez wohi ho ke jo hai

"Har ik cheez, wohi ho, ke jo hai" Wow.

Hasni Khan said...

agreed. on every count :)