*¹bahaar aaee (a tribute to *²faiz sahab’s poem)
waking to the moon-
sleeping in it’s tempered presence
this is time’s circular path.
spring flowers- sweetness in the air;
pansies, daffodils, petunias,
and the bougainvillea:
as if it grew secretly while winter wailed;
and like an old cousin
visiting out of the blue,
the bougainvillea has bloomed in a quick rapture;
this fullness
an openness inviting life
to stretch its arms in a languid hour.
faiz sahab’s nazm*¹bahaar aaee *² dripping from open windows in the alleys leading to the old lahore.
women soak henna overnight –
apply it to their hair-
laughing at jokes no one knows.
hope rises;
a trail of smoke left after a campfire
deep in the woods;
they sat around it,
hunched deep in
conversations of
ancient parables –
morning brought reminders of what
nights hold preciously
trees listen cautiously
never to tell
ever.
you walk past all this
leaving it for the city
where numbness awaits
dreamers weaved a dream
but for a moment.
bahār aa.ī to jaise yak-bār
lauT aa.e haiñ phir adam se
vo ḳhvāb saare shabāb saare
~ faiz Ahmed faiz
*¹ faiz Ahmed faiz
pakistani poet 1911-1984
*² tranlsation: spring came ; a nazm(poem) by faiz Ahmed faiz representing metaphorically the hope of new beginnings and the renderings thus
