Gaye Dino Ka Suragh Le Kar

 Nasir Kazmi An enigmatic poem by Nasir Kazmi, with a translation and note by Fulbright scholar Sobhia Kamal. This poem might be about a friend that Kazmi may have lost, but I think it could also be about the muse. The word comes from Greek mythology but the concept of a muse is familiar to every artist. It’s the sudden inspiration that possesses you and guides your hands and mind to create a work of art. When you look back at the work, you can’t believe that you created it. Some other entity must’ve possessed you while you created it.

Kazmi here talks about a similar ‘vo’ or ‘other’, whom he loved so dearly and yet didn’t know at all. Vo just showed a glimpse of himself, sang a sweet melody, then vanished into the night air. Kazmi repeatedly uses the words ‘guzar gaya’ which mean both, to pass or to pass away. To die. But why does Kazmi’s muse die? Is he talking about the feeling we get after making something we’re proud of, the feeling of, ‘Will I ever create something this good again? Will my muse ever return?’

Whatever it means, it’s a haunting poem. And no matter how many times you read it, you’re left with the same ‘hairat’ or bewilderment that Kazmi talks about in the first stanza. The verses mimic this elusiveness of the ‘vo’; you feel like you’re right on the brink of understanding what the poem is about but then it disappears, like ‘vo’ disappeared from Kazmi’s life. The whole poem feels like a yawn that stops mid-way. The same question keeps repeating in your mind, kahan se aya, kidhar gaya vo?

'Untitled' by Mughees Riaz

Original Text:

گئے دنوں کا سراغ لے کر کدھر سے آیا، کدھر گیا وہ

عجیب مانوس اجنبی تھا

مجھے تو حیران کر گیا وہ

بس اک موتی سی چھب دکھا کر بس اک میٹھی سی دھن سنا کر

ستارہءِ شام بن کے آیا

بہ رنگِ خوابِ سحر گیا وہ

خوشی کی رت ہو کہ غم کا موسم

نظر اسے ڈھونڈتی ہے ہر دم

وہ بوئے گل تھا کہ نغمہءِ جاں

میرے تو دل میں اتر گیا وہ

نہ اب وہ یادوں کا چڑھتا دریا

نہ فرصتوں کی اداس بارش

یوں ہی ذرا سی کسک ہے دل می

ںجو زخم گہرا تھا بھر گیا وہ

اب سنبھلنے لگی ہے جان بھی

بدل چلا رنگ آسماں بھی

جو رات بھاری تھی ٹل گئی

 ہےجو دن کڑا تھا، گزر گیا وہ

شکستہ پا رہ میں کھڑا ہوں

گئے دنوں کو بلا رہا ہوں

جو قافلہ میرا ہمسفر تھا

مثالِ گردِ سفر گیا وہ

وہ مےکدے کو جگانے والا

وہ رات کی نیند اڑانے والا

یہ آج کیا اس کے جی میں آئ

یکہ شام ہوتے ہی گھر گیا وہ

وہ جس کے شانے پہ ہاتھ رکھ کر

سفر کیا تُو نے منزلوں کا

تری گلی سے، نہ جانے کیوں

 آج سر جھکائے گزر گیا وہ

وہ ہجر کی رات کا ستارہ

وہ ہمنفس، ہم‌سخن ہمارا

سدا رہے اُس کا نام پیارا

سنا ہے کل رات مر گیا وہ

وہ رات کا بےنوا مسافر

وہ تیرا شاعر، وہ تیرا ناصر

تری گلی تک تو ہم نے دیکھا

پھر نہ جانے کدھر گیا وہ

Translation:

carrying with him a trace of days gone by, where did he come from? where did he go? he was a stranger, strangely familiar and left me utterly bewildered he showed just a pearl-like glimpse of himself and played just one sweet melody he came as the evening star, then vanished, like colours of a dream do at dawn whether it’s the season of joy or of despondence, every passing moment, my eyes search for him was he the scent of a flower, or the song of life? whatever he was, he has settled deep into my heart

no longer do my memories rise like wild tides no more do my idle hours fill with melancholic rain only a faint ache remains in my chest the wound that once ran deep has already healed

my life is becoming steadier now the sky is starting to change color, too the long, heavy night has passed, those brutal mornings are now over with weary feet I stand on this path, calling for the days that have passed the caravan that was my travel-companion has scattered, like dust he who kept the tavern awake, he who took our night’s sleep away what strange whim came over him today, that he went home as soon as evening fell?

he whose shoulder you put your hand on and traveled so many journeys with why is it then, that today, when passing your street, he lowered his head and walked on by?

he, a star on the night of separation our soulmate, our companion may his beloved name live on forever, I heard that last night, he died

he, a voiceless traveler of the night, your poet, your own Nasir, we saw him walking by your street but after that, who knows where he went?

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Nasir Kazmi (8 December 1925 – 2 March 1972) was a Pakistani poet. He wrote several beautiful ghazals, such as Niyat-e-Shauq. He was born in Ambala, India, and migrated to Pakistan after the Partition in 1947. He was awarded the Pride of Performance Award by the Government of Pakistan in 1968.

Sobhia Kamal is a writer from Karachi, currently pursuing an MFA Writing at The New School as a Fulbright Scholar. Her work mainly aims to preserve her heritage and identity as a Pakistani. When not writing, she learns the piano, takes long walks, and talks to trees as if they’re real people.

Mughees Riaz is a prominent Pakistani artist, painter, and art educator based in Lahore. Born in 1971, Riaz comes from a family of artists and has been formally trained in art, earning his BFA, MFA, and M Phil degrees from the University of the Punjab. He is a permanent faculty member at the College of Art and Design, University of the Punjab, and is known for his landscape and figurative paintings that explore themes of light, form, and symbolism. Riaz has exhibited his work extensively in Pakistan and internationally, and has received several awards, including the National Excellence Award in Visual Arts. His work is part of public and private collections worldwide.