Shahidain has sent this lovely translation of Bulleh Shah’s verse.

“moonh aaee baat na rehndee ey”

Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

If I tell a lie, something is left out;
If I speak out the truth, there is a blaze.
My mind fears both the alternatives;
But haltingly my tongue speaks out.
Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

Whosoever found the secret from the mystic,
He searched for the path within himself.
He is a blissful dweller of that temple,
Which knows neither rise nor fall.
Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

Respect and regard to all is essential,
But I know the inner reality of all.
In everyone there dwells the form of the Lord.
In some it is manifest, in some it is latent.
Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

Here, in this world, darkness prevails.
This world is a slippery courtyard.
Enter within and see who is there.
In vain do the foolish seek Him without.
Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

Here the world has been made manifest.
It has a strange secret of its own.
From a single Form a flash bursts forth,
Even as a spark ignites gunpowder.
Word that come on my tongue cannot be held back.

O Bulleh the Lord is not apart from us
Other than the lord none does exist
Alas! we do not have the seeing eye
That’s why life is a tale of suffering
Words that come on my tongue cannot be held back.
(Translation by J R Puri)

I am grateful to AK for sending me these lovely poems:

Kujh asraar nay meray dil vich
Jehray kadi na dassay
Jeewain pani bharya bad’l
guzar jaay bin wass’ay

Ik Kutba

Jaza, saza day vehm nay
Kujh ve karan na ditta
Zinda rehan day seham nay
Chajh naal maran na ditta

By Tariq Aziz (found in Hamzaad Da Dukh)

Enough of learning, my friend!

Enough of learning, my friend!

To it there is never an end

An alphabet should do for you,

It’s enough to help you fend.

You’ve amassed much learning around,

The Quran and its commentaries profound.

There is darkness amidst lighted ground.

Without the guide you remain unsound.

Learning makes you a Sheikh or his minion,

And thus you create problems trillion.

You exploit others who know not what,

Misleading them with wild opinion.

You meditate and you say your prayers

You go and shout at the top of the stairs.

Your cry reaching the high skies,

Its your avarice which ever belies.

The day I learnt love’s lesson,

I plunged into the river of divine passion;

An overwhelming gale, I was confounded and lost

When Shah Inayat cruised me across.

Source: here

More on Bulleh Shah here and here

As I recited Bulleh Shah’s poetry this evening, a friend sent a link to another video of Abida Parveen singing Bulleh’s mystic poetry in her inimitable style. Lo and behold, I also found an online translation of the verse (see below after the video).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQMoU5khmWk]

Here is a translation of the verse rendered in this video:

O Physician, come back! my life is ebbing away.
Compelled by love, I dance, I dance.

This love has set up camp inside me.
It is I, who filled the cup with this poison and drank it.
Come back right away, else, I will surely die.
Compelled by love, I dance, I dance.

The sun has set, its glow remains.
Grant me a sight of you again! I would die for it!
What a mistake I made, not going with you.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.

Mother do not bar me from this love.
Whoever turns back unloaded boats that have left?
How foolish I was, not going with the boatman.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.

Peacocks sing in the groves of love.
My beautiful beloved is my Ka’ba, my Qibla.
He injured me, then turned away.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.

Bullhe Shah, I sit at Inayat’s door,
He clothed me in robes of green and red.
When I stamped my heel, I found him.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.

Source

For another version of Punjabi and English, please click here.

Yet again, I was mesmerised by the passion and force of Amrita’s poetry. Even though this is a translation, it renders the mood rather well..

Read poem here >>

Tamania visited Murree on a weekday and found the ambiance charming despite the senseless “development” that has taken place at this Pakistani hill station.

Article here >>

I am glad that Adil Najam posted my piece on the public sculptures of Lahore on his blog - All Things Pakistan. It was good to read the comments as well. Full entry here >>

Yesterday, devotees were lighting lamps at the shrine of Mian Mir in Lahore to commemorate the saint’s 383rd Urs (death anniversary). Full article here >>

A great photo from the Lahore city court where the lawyers strike allows the support staff to play some cricket while our team struggles to stay in the World Cup competition.

Full entry here >>

 I finally got hold of the digital images of some lovely prints by Samar Ataullah - a graduate of the National College of Arts, Lahore.

View all here >>

Zia from Islamabad writes: Read it here >>

Found this lovely poem in a piece that mourns the death of a prominent Punjabi poet, Sharif Kunjahi.

Read poem here >>

Amrita Pritam never woke up on the afternoon of October 31, 2005 and the world is emptier without her musings. She embodied the fullness of poetic expression, creativity and the intensity of a woman in the perpetual state of love. Amrita’s voice was rooted in the South Asian idiom with all its contradictions, diversity and a faint recognition of fate. Her remarkable affinity with the depths of the Punjabi language adds to her iconoclastic status in India, Pakistan and wherever Punjabi is spoken and appreciated. Yet her audience has been global as well: her work was translated into dozens of world languages.

One of her poems makes the following confession:

Today I have erased the number of my house
And removed the stain of identity on my street’s forehead
And I have wiped the direction on each road
But if you really want to meet me
Then knock at the doors of every country
Every city, every street
And wherever a glimpse of a free spirit exists
That will be my home

(translation by author)
Through the course of her life, this ‘free spirit’ generated controversy but she never concerned herself with the mundane. Outspoken, prolific and deeply spiritual, Amrita existed within self-defined, non-conformist parameters. She lived with her partner for 41 years, shunned religious and sectarian identities and rejected the political divide of the left and right:
No absolutes for something as relative as a human life
No rules for something so tender as a heart..

Cont. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]