Black Out (Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

[avendya]

I had grand plans of posting a themed set of poems this week. Alas, real life has intervened in my time to put together a coherent set, so instead I shall instead stick to poems I am very fond of.

This is by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Agha Shahid Ali (an amazing poet in his own right), from the collection The Rebel's Silhouette .

Black Out
written during the India-Pakistan War of 1965

Ever since the lights failed,
I have been searching to see how I could see.
Where have my eyes strayed in the dust?

You who know, give me proof.
Describe me to myself.

A bitter river rages in my veins,
and my heart, still longing for you,
flows on its poisonous waves.

Wait a little: perhaps from some other world
the hand of a prophet, carved in lightning,
is bringing me pearls for my lost eyes.

Wait until the river is stilled,
and my submerged heart, annulled like a Sufi's,
is washed up, cleansed, on a welcoming shore.

I will then begin a new translation of hope.
I will complete the texts of love.