Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Halaku when you will come to Baghdad

Here is my loose english translation of Hasan Abidi's poem -
Halaku ab jo tum Baghdad aaoge


Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
'Dajla' would have cleaned her shore with wetness of blood
Here one more army, an army of blaze-n-rock would have camped
For many hundred years this city of angst
which never slept, would have been slept this time
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
You will find corpses, but without head
A tower of skulls would have been built before your enter
streets, lanes, inns, sanctuaries, cafes
would have been standing their hands bagging their shadows
Ashes of libraries would have been drifted
Antiques would have been distributed in bags
Valued copies of god's book and divine scrolls
whose sights kept chests lighted
woud have been burned

Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
Nights of "alif Laila" (Thousand nights) will have escaped from tales
wearing sheet of sunlight, sitting on sand's cliff
would have been waiting
for tale-tellers, merchants, travellers, con-mans and princes
(to see when night will fall on city)
But now no dawn will come, or any night will fall
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
(from) Ali Baba's treasures of gold, (to) tents and field, all would have been looted
Where vougish-n-astucious Marjeena lived,
there now lived young warriors of some other world
Here is a magic in soil, earth bears gold
(but now)there is smell of oil
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
you will come for not to go

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