For a long time now, I had not penned anything remotely poetic. I have often envied the capability of some who are so welled with emotions and expressiveness that compositions flow effortlessly from them. I am in comparison, rather emotionally challenged. But then there are times when some sequence in a movie, or a memory that tears itself from the abyss and surfaces, brings along with it a torrential downpour, that floods through your being and translates to words. In the past couple of days, it happened so that the guarded gates were destroyed, and the vault broken into. And here’s what materialized.
P.S: For those who are hindi-challenged (like me! I terribly mix up the genders!) I have also attempted a poor translation in English. Its not a literal translation though, but more or less conveys the essence of what’s written in Hindi.
yeh shaam aakhir aati kyon hai?
bina tere parchaayi ke dastak deti kyon hai?
har aahat bhee ab mazaak karne lagi hai,
tarsti nazron ko ye dhoka deti kyon hai?
tere aane ki ummeed se saans chalti rehti hai
Jhoothi tasalli se ye nigahen bharti kyon hai?
in aankhon ki sookhi zameen jo sulagti rehti hai
tere naam pe ye nazar barasti kyon hai?
yoon toh kai is dil ki zameen pe chale hain
tere nishaan ke liye phir bhi tarasti kyon hai?
dil ke afsaane lafz-e-sher se bayaan hoti nahin
mere seene se ye ghazal nikalti kyon hai?
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Why does the dusk arrive so?
Why does it knock bereft of your shadows?
Every whisper seems to mock at me
Why do they fool my eager eyes so?
Every breathe heaves with the hope of your arrival
Why does the eye moisten for this false hope?
The barren lands of my vision are burning nigh
Why do they only rain in your name?
This heart has been treaded by many feet
Why does it yet search for your prints?
The travails of this heart a poem can’t convey
Why does the heart still try to sing?
– Praveen
1 comments
wah! ustad wah!!…