This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Mashīnzādon̲ kī bastī men̲ / In the Land of the Machine-Born
On one side across the wall
There was music and dancing in the house,
Rejoicing;
Night-long festivities.
And on the other side,
People kept sleeping.
.
On the main highway there was an accident—
A man was crushed,
His head was split open;
The traffic kept on flowing.
The people who were busy talking kept talking
Laughter clipped the wings of the shrieks
And the many who were silent went by silently.
The man died.
.
In one quarter at noon
In the centre of the bazaar
A murder.
And the police kept knocking on doors everywhere for witnesses;
The rumbling train arrived and left
And with the roar of the wheels, eardrums were torn.
The railway tracks kept lying as before.
They did not move.
.
Men have become railway tracks.
O, will the railway tracks ever become men?
.
From: Shab gasht (Evening Patrol). Allāhābād: Shabk̲h̲ūn Kitāb G̲h̲ar, 1969. pp. 63 – 64
On one side across the wall
There was music and dancing in the house,
Rejoicing;
Night-long festivities.
And on the other side,
People kept sleeping.
.
On the main highway there was an accident—
A man was crushed,
His head was split open;
The traffic kept on flowing.
The people who were busy talking kept talking
Laughter clipped the wings of the shrieks
And the many who were silent went by silently.
The man died.
.
In one quarter at noon
In the centre of the bazaar
A murder.
And the police kept knocking on doors everywhere for witnesses;
The rumbling train arrived and left
And with the roar of the wheels, eardrums were torn.
The railway tracks kept lying as before.
They did not move.
.
Men have become railway tracks.
O, will the railway tracks ever become men?
.
From: Shab gasht (Evening Patrol). Allāhābād: Shabk̲h̲ūn Kitāb G̲h̲ar, 1969. pp. 63 – 64
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