Firaaq Gorakhpuri: Translated by Huzaifa Pandit

BIO

Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), better known under his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri, was a writer, critic, and, according to one commentator, one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets from India. He established himself among peers including Muhammad Iqbal, Yagana Changezi, Jigar Moradabadi and Josh Malihabadi.

BIO

Huzaifa Pandit is the author of the recently published ‘‘Green is the Colour of Memory” which won the first edition of Rhythm Divine Poets Chapbook Contest 2017. Born and raised in Kashmir, his poems alternate between despair, defiance, resistance and compliance as they seek to make sense of a world where his identity is outlawed. His inspirations in poetry can be guessed from the topic of his PhD: “Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Agha Shahid Ali and Mahmoud Darwish – Poetics of Resistance” at University of Kashmir. His poems, translations, interviews, essays and papers have been published in various journals like Indian Literature, PaperCuts, Life and Legends, Jaggery Lit, JLA India, Punch and Noble/Gas Quatrly.

(The Ghazal is translated from the original Urdu by Huzaifa Pandit)

 

Ghazal 

Sorrow dims evening, of those beloved eyes
Let some talk be.
Inebriety grows on me, of the deepest secrets
Let some talk be.

This blessed silence, this snapping of the heart
In such silence, of defeated music
Let some talk be.

Fragrance of unruly tresses, saga of the sad evening
Of such things only, till morning
Let all talk be.

Let the heart’s every nerve pound in ecstasy
Each nerve be seized by agony
Of apt and inapt accounts of her beauty
Let all talk be.

That which is mankind’s life, import of life
Of that silence of secrets, of that prophetic voice
Let all talk be.

Love stands vilified, passes by dull and grieving
Of those shapely telltale eyes
Let all talk be.

Her name itself is a universe
Full of cheery colour and fragrance
Friends, of that budding spring
Let all talk be.

Sieved light sifts through the bars of the cage
Of the bluest sky and longing to soar
Let all talk be.

That which is eternal life as well as sudden death
Of that elegance, that poise
Let all talk be.

Reckless love too has turned impatient now
Of the mischief of that miraculous beauty
Let all talk be.

Whose estrangement altered the course of love, Firaaq
Of that companion – my Messiah
who resurrects the dead
Let all talk be.

شام غم کچھ اس نگاہ ناز کی باتیں کرو

بے خودی بڑھتی چلی ہے راز کی باتیں کرو

یہ سکوت ناز یہ دل کی رگوں کا ٹوٹنا

خامشی میں کچھ شکست ساز کی باتیں کرو

نکہت زلف پریشاں داستان شام غم

صبح ہونے تک اسی انداز کی باتیں کرو

ہر رگ دل وجد میں آتی رہے دکھتی رہے

یوں ہی اس کے جا و بے جا ناز کی باتیں کرو

جو عدم کی جان ہے جو ہے پیام زندگی

اس سکوت راز اس آواز کی باتیں کرو

عشق رسوا ہو چلا بے کیف سا بیزار سا

آج اس کی نرگس غماز کی باتیں کرو

نام بھی لینا ہے جس کا اک جہان رنگ و بو

دوستو اس نو بہار ناز کی باتیں کرو

کس لیے عذر تغافل کس لیے الزام عشق

آج چرخ‌ تفرقہ پرواز کی باتیں کرو

کچھ قفس کی تیلیوں سے چھن رہا ہے نور سا

کچھ فضا کچھ حسرت پرواز کی باتیں کرو

جو حیات جاوداں ہے جو ہے مرگ ناگہاں

آج کچھ اس ناز اس انداز کی باتیں کرو

عشق بے پروا بھی اب کچھ ناشکیبا ہو چلا

شوخئ حسن کرشہ ساز کی باتیں کرو

جس کی فرقت نے پلٹ دی عشق کی کایا فراقؔ

آج اس عیسیٰ نفس دم ساز کی باتیں کرو

 

*****

(Firaq Gorakhpuri’s bio source, Wikipedia)