..... Contd
SOME NEW POEMS OF
AFZAL SHAUQ
Nazish Zafar
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Poem No.7
BEHIND THE REALITY
When ever
I try to negate and suppress my inner self
reducing it to some petty level
in my own esteem
the door of my heart
is angrily knocked at
as if there is some one
unknown..
who makes it a point
that I realized
that I am
not the one as I think of me myself
but a being more than that
a soul
granted for my being
face of God
_________________
- Afzal Shauq’s Pashto Poem ‘Fannah Fillah’
- Translated By: Nazish Zafar
Most striking of all still are the love poems. Poet's heart keen set on his beloved, wait for her steps to touch the ground of his heart. The following short, symbolic poem is a beautiful expression of a desiring heart in love. Poet adorns his heart with idols knowing that his beloved, an idealist, a seeker of perfection of beauty is likely to visit such a place.
Poem No.8
MY FRIEND SEEMS TO HINDO
I know
that neither I believe in
the re-birth of man
in some other lives
nor the life
itself is a tree to catch leaves
every new spring
But still
my Muslim heart like a temple
keeps the idols of different Bagwans
for the sake of a hope
that you being the worshiper
may visit it some day
___________________
- Afzal Shauq’s Pashto Poem
‘Yar Mi Hindo .. Zeh Musalman Yam’
-Translated By: Nazish Zafar
As lover he makes a pleasant amalgam of seriousness and frolic of whole affair. The emotional thrill is often stated with the calm of a stoic. He surrenders his soul to the will of his beloved.
The following poem is replete with a firm belief in the power of true love. He permits his beloved to leave him but has a faith that they still are inseparables as the souls have joined up as one. The manner of addressing the beloved ironically combines a sense of indifference and emotion of deep love, in a very interesting way.
Poem No.9
TO YOU …!!
Honey ..!!
when ever
you wish to detach from me,
Just go on
trample my neck
under your feet
and pull my name
along with the soul,
you are attached with
___________________
- Afzal Shauq’s Pashto Poem ‘
- Translated By: Nazish Zafar
‘Off Line Message’ is a poem with a very modern approach involving the most modern means of communication. Not only the subject involved but the very style of the poem qualifies it as representative of new dimensions in poetry.
Poem No.10
OFF LINE MESSAGE
Hey you..!
You know the one
who is supposed to be
your second half,
How come?
I asked the one
who was faceless
even to herself
But
it was her
who kept emphasizing
these same words
with dream like
sweet echo ..
and when
the very next morning
I got up
with some mixed feelings
The first thing
I saw in the mirror was
a strange
but very pretty girl,
who kept drawing her facial features
with the creases of
my time worn hands
While
the second thing
which has
trapped me
in a series of thoughts..
was the same
dreamy sentence
Which was amazingly
left by that very same HER
as an 'off line Message'
on the net..................
_________________
- Afzal Shauq’s Pashto Poem ‘Off Line Message’
- Translated By: Nazish Zafar
Afzal Shauq, in the following poem claims that if he had known the price he will have to pay in his search of an ideal face , he might have given up his efforts. But I believe souls like his are destined and designed to wander in the desert of this life to find drops of water and when they fail at finding some, they'll attempt at discovering the seeds of rain ...to be sown.. and wait for fruition... they would be doomed to dive deep into the most perilous of oceans and cull for themselves priceless pearls... even if they were told the risks of losing their own self...in the way.
Afzal Shauq would complain of pain he endured at the hands of this materialistic world, for it would go unaware of a sensitive heart's desires. But he never exhibits a sense of ennui at this indifference. He finds himself deeply concerned with life and men around him.
So instead of feeling detached he attempts at giving vent to his disappointment not without a hope of being heard some day..
Poem No.11
FACE FOR
If only
by some chance
I had an idea
that I will lose my own face one day
in search of an ideal face
I would have never
displayed my being
in the show room
of this material world
for sale
______________
- Afzal Shauq’s Pashto Poem ‘Bazari Sehra’
- Translated By: Nazish Zafar
NAZISH ZAFAR
Islamabad. Pak
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