A poem for the people of Pakistan: ابھی کچھ لوگ زندہ ہیں Abhi Kuchh Log Zinda heiN , with Translation

I share my poem with the people of Pakistan and dedicate it to them. It is in Urdu, and I have also translated it.

For those who may understand Urdu but can not read it, I have added an audio file of my recitation. Please click the audio link to listen:

Abhi Kuchh Log Zinda HeiN

Click below to listen.

Poem by Munir Saami, translation edited by Yasser Pervaiz,

ابھی کچھ لوگ زندہ ہیں

 

دیارِ اجنبی سے میں

پلٹ کر اپنے گھر آیا تو یہ دیکھا

کسی وحشت زدہ کوچہ میں

اک سہما ہوا بچہ

بہت سرگوشیوں میں کہہ رہا تھا

اے مسافر سُن

ہوائے تُند خُو نے شہر میں انساں کو مارا ہے

گلستان کا ہر ایک گوشہ اجاڑا ہے

مگر کچھ  کُنج باقی ہیں

انہی کُنجوں میں خستہ تن ابھی کچھ لوگ بیٹھے ہیں

جو اک دوجے کی ہر شام و سَحَر ڈھارس بندھاتے ہیں

جنوں کی بات کرتے ہیں، وفا کے گیت گاتے ہیں

تہی داماں ہیں ،لیکن آس کے پرچم اڑاتے ہیں

ابھی کچھ کُنج باقی ہیں

ابھی کچھ لوگ زندہ ہیں

ابھی کچھ لوگ زندہ ہیں

Translation:

We are still alive!
I returned home once

from a foreign land,

and found a child in a deserted lane,

scared and alone.

He spoke to me in a whispered lament,

 “O traveller,

violent storms have killed all,

and uprooted all the flowerbeds.

But there are still some groves,

where shattered souls survive.

Helping and consoling each other,

with firm resolve,

and singing songs of love.

Their clothes are tattered,

yet they keep raising the banners of

defiant hope.
We are still alive,

we are still alive,
O traveller!”

 

An audio at a Mississauga mosque : Imam calls, Liberalism, Secularism, Nationalism, as tyrants of today/

Click the audio above, and listen to a preacher at the prayer room at Mississauga’ Living Arts Center.  It is .wav file.

You have to be patient to listen to the entire video. Go 5:30 and focus on Laat, Munaat, and Uzza, the three deities the prophet destroyed in Mecca.

The preacher equates them with what he calls the tyrants of today: Secularism, Liberalism, and Nationalism. And induces to work against them.

You need patience because of the Arabic mix and the pronunciation.