3 Translated poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz by me

[فرخ منظور]

COLOR OF MY HEART (Rang hai dil ka meray)
When you had not yet come
Everything was just what it should be

Sky was a limit of sight, the road was just a road,
and the glass of a glass of wine was not more than a glass of a glass of wine.

And now the glass of a glass of wine, road, and the color of sky
The color of my heart is like an unfulfilled wish
A golden color is like a pleasant sight of my beautiful beloved
And a slate color just like a moment of abhor
Colors of lifeless leaves and the colors of thorns and hay
Colors of red flowers like the color of a garden on fire
The color of poison, the color of blood and the color of black night
The sky: a tear drenched shirt, the road: an aching nerve,
the glass of a glass of wine: an ever changing mirror

Now you have come, please stay a while so that some color,
some season and something can stay in its shape for a while
Once again everything could be what it should be
Sky should become a limit of sight, the road should become a road,
and the glass of a glass of wine should become a glass of a glass of wine.



A poem by FAIZ AHMED FAIZ
From his Book
Dast-e-Tah-e-Sang (Hand of a stone fold)
Translated by: Farrukh
far67@yahoo.com

----------------------------------------------------------

Solitude (Tanhai)


O’ My heart! Someone is coming again
But no, there is no one here
It must be some passerby who is heading elsewhere
The night is almost over now and
Stardust is shattering
Before dying, lamps of halls are quivering in slumbers
After waiting for some passerby the road is asleep
Some strange dust has dimmed the footprints on road
Oh! Put the glasses and wine away and lights out
There is no one, no one will come
O’ my heart! Lock your sleepless doors!



A Poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
From his book Naqsh-e-Furyadee (An imprint of a plaintiff)

Translated by: Farrukh
far67@yahoo.com

-------------------------------------------------------


An Evening of the Prison (ZindaaN ke aik shaam)


From the swirling stairway of the evening stars, night is descending step by step
Near me zephyr blows, like someone is uttering the words of love
With heads down, homeless trees of the prison are indulge in carving frescos on sky roof
On the shoulder of a roof the beautiful hand of moonlight is shinning
Shine of stars is mingling with powdery dust and the blue sky is dissolving in haze
Like a surging pain of separation blue shadows are dancing in lush green corners
A thought is repeatedly saying to my heart that life is so sweet at this moment
That no oppressor could be succeeded in his efforts either today or tomorrow
So what, if they have blown the candle of our love, but can they turn the moon off?


A poem by FAIZ AHMED FAIZ
From his second book Dast-e-Saba (Zephyr’s Hand)

Translated by: Farrukh

 

[سارہ خان]

Good work sukhanwer ... keep it up ..

 

[ہمسفر]

Nice buddy keep it up

 

[فاتح]

Dear Farrukh

The translation renders a delectation and more attractively it keeps the real sense and emotional admiration, which is part of the original work. Definitely I'd love to read more

Once, I went through a poem by Faiz, translated by Ayesha Kaljuvee and was fascinated by the translated work as much as by the pilot work. I'm going to post it here, too

 

[فرخ منظور]

I am very much thankful to you all, It was a real pleasure to read feed backs of you all. Especially I am really thankful to Mr. Fateh and yes I intentially want to portray the original sense of poems and I think, I have succeeded.​

 

[محمد وارث]

Translation of any literary work in general and of poetry in particular is rather a tricky business. A translator must not only have command over both the languages but should also possess good esthetic sense to do justice with translation work. I am pleased to write that you have done justice woth your work, a good work. Keep it up.​

Fateh has mentioned a work of Faiz's translation, another worth reading translation of Faiz is “Poems of Faiz” translated by Prof. Victor Kiernan published in 1971. Prof. Kiernan was professor of History at the University of Edinburgh and spent some eight years in India before partition. During the period he met with Faiz and other Urdu writers and became a good friend of Faiz. Prof. Kiernan also published English Translation of Iqbal’s poetry. “Poems of Faiz” is a kind of masterpiece as it gives four types of scripts: Urdu (Persian) script, Roman Urdu script, free English translation and poetic English translation.​

I hope to read more of your works.​

 

[فرخ منظور]

Thank you so much Mr. Waris