This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.

Professor Carlo Coppola, Oakland University

Tārīk̲h̲ / History

Rocks, bending over the streets 

Earth’s burned tongues—

Gathering the sounds of centuries 

And folding themselves in the dust of ages,

Seeing me advancing in the space—

Speaks in the voice of silence:

The fire of history is burning;

Another tongue is coming forth.

.

 August 1953

From: Dasht-i vafā (Desert of Fidelity), 2012 p. 32

Rocks, bending over the streets 

Earth’s burned tongues—

Gathering the sounds of centuries 

And folding themselves in the dust of ages,

Seeing me advancing in the space—

Speaks in the voice of silence:

The fire of history is burning;

Another tongue is coming forth.

.

 August 1953

From: Dasht-i vafā (Desert of Fidelity), 2012 p. 32