This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Ajnabī muḥāfiẓ / Foreign Protectors
Tall, strong young men of the foreign country
Stand in the special doorway of the tall hotel;
Below are the alleys of my helpless country
Where crowds of hungry people walk about aimlessly,
A display of weakness on their pale faces,
An inertness of hundreds of years of slavery in their blood,
Without that light of knowledge.
Melancholic stars of India’s sky,
The wings of whose imagination
Cannot touch the top of that high hill,
On which the strong, tall young men of the foreign land
Stretch and stand in the hotel windows,
Cigarette in their mouths, a glass of brandy in hand,
The jingling of silver coins the sweat of
A starving farmer’s hands in their pocket,
In return for which is sold at night
The honour of someone stricken with poverty, that is,
The pride of some helpless young girl’s chastity.
Near the same hotel
A group of starving, helpless slaves,
Fixing their stare, look up and
Wait for the rare moment when
A group of carefree young men from the foreign land
Might, with the tip of their boots, kick them
Some money, some cigarettes, some cake,
A bit of stale bread,
As if to take pleasure
In the scenes of grovelling,
As if to take pleasure in the feeling
One has towards pet dogs.
A group of hungry, helpless slaves
Fixing their glance, stand staring.
If only these ugly, cowardly men without feeling
The pictures of Roman tyranny
Were able to change places;
If only these dogs,
Chained for one hundred and fifty years,
Were able to extract from their lords the tribute of power;
If only they could array themselves for their own sake,
They could cure themselves of their own afflictions.
The national honor
Would even no exist;
In the head and dark chests
The candle of feeling would not be snuffed out even now
And it would not have been necessary
To send for these rented protectors
Against the dangers which are piling up from the East.
.
From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963 pp. 88 – 92
Ajnabī muḥāfiẓ is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970
Tall, strong young men of the foreign country
Stand in the special doorway of the tall hotel;
Below are the alleys of my helpless country
Where crowds of hungry people walk about aimlessly,
A display of weakness on their pale faces,
An inertness of hundreds of years of slavery in their blood,
Without that light of knowledge.
Melancholic stars of India’s sky,
The wings of whose imagination
Cannot touch the top of that high hill,
On which the strong, tall young men of the foreign land
Stretch and stand in the hotel windows,
Cigarette in their mouths, a glass of brandy in hand,
The jingling of silver coins the sweat of
A starving farmer’s hands in their pocket,
In return for which is sold at night
The honour of someone stricken with poverty, that is,
The pride of some helpless young girl’s chastity.
Near the same hotel
A group of starving, helpless slaves,
Fixing their stare, look up and
Wait for the rare moment when
A group of carefree young men from the foreign land
Might, with the tip of their boots, kick them
Some money, some cigarettes, some cake,
A bit of stale bread,
As if to take pleasure
In the scenes of grovelling,
As if to take pleasure in the feeling
One has towards pet dogs.
A group of hungry, helpless slaves
Fixing their glance, stand staring.
If only these ugly, cowardly men without feeling
The pictures of Roman tyranny
Were able to change places;
If only these dogs,
Chained for one hundred and fifty years,
Were able to extract from their lords the tribute of power;
If only they could array themselves for their own sake,
They could cure themselves of their own afflictions.
The national honor
Would even no exist;
In the head and dark chests
The candle of feeling would not be snuffed out even now
And it would not have been necessary
To send for these rented protectors
Against the dangers which are piling up from the East.
.
From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963 pp. 88 – 92
Ajnabī muḥāfiẓ is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970
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