Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.

"An empty mind is the devil's workshop", I have been repeatedly told since I was a child. Yet, it was on one of those very empty evenings that it struck me that I could invite a friend, or maybe even three friends to write a guest post. The one thing that I love about my friends, whom you shall meet by and by, gentle reader, is that they are always game for an adventure. This is Part 1 of that enterprise.

I've known Asha for longer than I care to remember. She breezed into my life and stayed back as my rock, my sounding board, and the shoulder on which I would cry on countless times.

Asha is an expert trainer and has worked with some of the world's biggest corporations. Deeply interested in issues relating to the development of self, she writes a wonderfully thought-provoking blog called Self Leadership. In her blog, she manages to raise issues that we all need to ponder on, but about which we rarely stop to think systematically.

However, here on my blog, she writes not on leadership or decisions or self-awareness, but moves to our common love, poetry. Her thoughts are placed below:

Let me start off by saying that poetry is not one of my current ‘can-dos’. Would I like to compose poetry? Yes! Have I attempted it? No! Having said that, I love reading poetry and one volume that I’ve perused a few times ia ‘Ariake’ – a collection of poems of love and longing by the women courtiers of Japan.

The foreword by Lisa Dalby summarises ‘Ariake’ as follows: “Ariake or ‘the waning moon at dawn’ was an image associated foremost with love in the ancient courts of Japan. Few societies integrated poetry into daily life as devotedly as the court of Japan’s Heian era (A.D. 794 – 1192). The most renowned poets of this era were women. They were passionate and demonstrative – a far cry from the typical portraits of passive objects of desire drawn by Westerners.”

A few samples from this rather fascinating collection!

Were you a string of beads

I would wind you about my arm,

But since you are a man

Of the actual, mortal world,

You are hard in the winding.

~ The Elder Maiden of the Otomo of Sakanoue ~

Look at this keepsake

And remember me, my love;

All the gem-bright year,

Long as its thread of shining days,

I too shall think of you.

~ Lady Kasa ~

As night succeeds night,

I seek in vain to decide

Where my pillow should go.

How did I sleep on the night

When you appeared in my dream?

~ Anonymous ~

My favourite Indian poet is Sahir Ludhianvi. A deeply passionate man, he lived and died a tortured soul. A genius with words, he demonstrated how a lot could be said with very few words. There are so many of his poems I love, and here is one of them.

Maine jo geet tere pyar ki khatir likhe

Aaj un geeton ko bazaar mein le aaya hoon

Aaj dukan mein neelam uthega unka

Tu ne jin geeton pe rakhi thi mohabbat ki asaas

Aaj chandi ki taraazu mein tulegi har cheez

Mere afkaar, meri shaayari, mera ehsaas

Jo teri zaatse mansoob the un geeton ko

Muflisi jins banaane pe uthar aayi hai

Bhookh, tere rookh-e-rangeen ke fasaano ke ivaz

Chand ashiya-e-zaroorat ki tamannai hai

Dekh is arsaagahe-mehnaton-sarmaaya mein

Mere naghme bhi mere paas nahin reh sakte

Tere jalve kisi zardaar ki meeras sahi

Tere khaake bhi mer paas nahin reh sakte

Aaj un geeton ko bazaar mein le aaya hoon

Maine jo geet tere pyar ki khatir likhe

Last but not the least is a piece from Harold Monro on ‘Solitude’. I know Geetali has done a post on ‘Solitude’ earlier. I picked this out of An Anthology of Modern Verse that was gifted by my friend Irene Hawkins. If you ever come across this post my friend, know that you are in my mind and that I miss you.

When you have tidied all things for the night,

And while your thoughts are fading to their sleep,

You’ll pause a moment in the late firelight,

Too sorrowful to weep.

The large and gentle furniture has stood

In sympathetic silence all the day

With that old kindness of domestic wood;

Nevertheless the haunted room will say:

“Some one must be away”.

The little dog rolls over half awake,

Stretches his paws, yawns, looking up at you,

Wags his tail very slightly for your sake,

That you may feel he is unhappy too.

A distant engine whistles, or the floor

Creaks, or the wandering night-wind bangs a door;

Silence is scattered like a broken glass.

The minutes prick their ears and run about,

Then one by one subside again and pass

Sedately in, monotonously out.

You bend your head and wipe away a tear.

Solitude walks one heavy step more near.

Sahir The Magician

This morning, for no reason at all, I was reminded of Sahir. Colossus in a world of creative pygmies. Obsessive lover. The man who introduced the art of "adab" (intellect) to the sometimes mindless world of Hindi film lyrics. Thousands of words have been written singing paeans to his talent. To me, he is a man whose words reach out from across time and age. They just go right in somewhere in the heart region. It is foolish to analyse his poetry. His poems are meant to be read, to be felt deep inside in that place where you allow no one to enter....

Here is a gem. Meant to read and cherished, and maybe shed a tear over, since it strikes a chord:



चलो एक बार फिर से
अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों

न में तुमसे कोई उम्मीद रखूँ दिल-नवाजी की
न तुम मेरी तरफ़ देखो ग़लत-अंदाज़ नज़रों से
न मेरे दिल की धड़कन लड़खडाए मेरी बातों में
न ज़ाहिर हो तुम्हारी कशमकश का राज़ नज़रों से

चलो एक बार फिर से....

तुम्हे भी कोई उलझन रोकती है पेश-कदमी से
मुझे भी लोग कहते हैं के ये जलवे पराये हैं
मेरे हमराह भी रुसवाईयान हैं मेरे माजी की
तुम्हारे साथ भी गुजरी हुई रातों के साए हैं

चलो एक बार फिर से.....

तारुफ़ रोग हो जाए , तो उसको भूलना बेहतर
तालुक बोझ बन जाए तो उसको छोड़ना अच्छा
वो अफसाना जिसे अंजाम तक लाना न हो मुमकिन
उसे एक खूबसूरत मोड़ दे कर छोड़ना अच्छा

चलो एक बार फिर से, अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों

Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayen hum donon.

Naa main tum-se koi ummeed rakkhoon dil-nawazi ki,
Naa tum meri taraf dekho galat-andaaz nazaron se,
Naa mere dil ki dhadkan ladkhadaye meri baaton mein,
Naa zaahir ho tumhari kash-ma-kash ka raaz nazaron se.

Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayen hum donon.

Tumhe bhi koi uljhan rokati hai, pesh-kadami se,
Mujhe bhi log kehte hain, ki yeh jalwe paraye hain
Mere humraah bhi ruswaaiyan hain mere maazi ki
Tumhare saath bhi guzari hui raaton ke saayen hain.

Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayen hum donon.

(And here come the best lines...)
Taarruf rog ho jaaye to usko bhoolna behtar
Taaluq bojh ban jaaye to usko todna achcha
Woh afsaana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumqin
Use ek khoobsoorat mod dekar chhodna achcha

Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayen hum donon........

And now for my (about adequate) translation of the above. I'm sure others have attempted it too and have fared better than I. It's impossible to love Sahir and not want to share him with everyone! so here goes:

Come, let us be strangers once again.

I shall no longer aspire for any favours from you
Nor shall you look askance at me
No more shall my words tremble at my heartbeat
Nor the secret of your struggle be betrayed in a glance.

Come, let us be strangers once again.

Something stops you from moving ahead (with me)
I too now wear facades, or so they tell me
The disgraces of my past are my constant companions
And you too are haunted by nights of yore

Come, let us be strangers once again.

When acquaintance sickens, it's best forgotten
When a relationship oppresses, it's best broken
If an adventure on which you've embarked, cannot be completed
One must abandon it on a beautiful turn.

Come, let us be strangers once again.........

In all honesty, gentle reader, the English language has no equivalent for the words "Woh afsaana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumqin / Use ek khoobsoorat mod dekar chhodna achcha".... One cannot do justice to the genius of Sahir in any language other than Urdu/Hindustani........