With fettered legs, we danced

This is a fabulous poem by Fakhar Zaman,currently the Chairman of Pakistan’s Academy of Letters. This poem, has also been quoted by several authors and I am grateful to have found it in Victoria Schofield’s brilliant article entitled CAN DEMOCRACY WORK IN PAKISTAN?*

Nothing describes better the fortitude and bravery of ordinary, disempowered Pakistanis who have suffered through the decades.

How can he who lost his eyesight paint?
How can he who lost his hands sculpt?
How can he who lost his hearing compose music?
How can he whose tongue was cut out sing?
How can he whose hands are tied write poetry?
How can he whose feet are fettered dance?
With muf?ed nose and mouth how can one inhale the scent of flowers?
But all this has really happened:
Without eyes, we painted,
Without hands, we sculpted statues,
Without hearing, we composed music,
Deprived of a tongue, we sang
Handcuffed, we wrote poetry,
With fettered legs, we danced
And the fragrance of flowers pierced our muffled mouths and nostrils.

*Schofield, Victoria(2009)’CAN DEMOCRACY WORK IN PAKISTAN?’,Asian Affairs,40:2,243 — 251

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