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LIGHT
In this night of separation
There is some light
The flash of the memories glimmered too.
An incident, a wound and a thing
Remained in the heart.
At night, starlight smashed everything
From the eyesight, the sun disappeared.
The odor of the dew is still,
Coming from the moon.
A drop of your love
Also mingled in it
Therefore, I drank up
All the bitterness of life.
***
KUMARI
When I had stepped
On your threshold
I was not single
But I was twofold
One was virgin and other, married.
Just because of your desire
I had killed one
As I committed a murder
In such a way….
These are often legal
But their insult is illegal.
So, I too had drunk
A cup of insult
And then the next moment
When I saw my bloody hands
I washed those forcefully
As all wash
But as I came in front of mirror
I shuddered with fear.
***
GEM OF SNAKE
There was a thick forest of mind
Knowledge was like a lightened tree,
The snake’s gem of inner self
Glittering on the forehead
And spreading its hood.
The snake charmer came with wide steps Playing bassoon of Ishq
Having snake pot of hope in his hands.
The fresh milk of love
The snake of self-found in its pot
The snake charmer sits in a crossing
Playing the bassoon and dancing snakes
And sometimes put snake
Around his neck.
The music is playing
But the watchers are weeping
All people came to see the feat.
***
JOURNEY
I don’t know
How is the ‘boat’ of today?
I even don’t know
How will be ‘island’ of tomorrow?
But I don’t know so
Love is a passenger
Who has to leave alone!
In this boat.
From the internal water
A wave has risen
And journey is tied
With the feet of wave.
A ray says daily
Come with me
We are to go
To the home of sun
I don’t know
How is ‘boat’ of today?
***
MY ADDRESS
Today,
I have erased my house number
Removed away the name of the street
On the corner
As well cleared identification of each road.
All numbers and signs have been removed
Still, if you have to find me
Knock at each door
Of every city and each country.
It’s a secret, a quest
Whenever, you see any flash of a gloomy soul
Then consider it’s my home.
***
(Translated from Punjabi by Hamza Hassan Sheikh)
****
LIGHT
In this night of separation
There is some light
The flash of the memories glimmered too.
An incident, a wound and a thing
Remained in the heart.
At night, starlight smashed everything
From the eyesight, the sun disappeared.
The odor of the dew is still,
Coming from the moon.
A drop of your love
Also mingled in it
Therefore, I drank up
All the bitterness of life.
***
KUMARI
When I had stepped
On your threshold
I was not single
But I was twofold
One was virgin and other, married.
Just because of your desire
I had killed one
As I committed a murder
In such a way….
These are often legal
But their insult is illegal.
So, I too had drunk
A cup of insult
And then the next moment
When I saw my bloody hands
I washed those forcefully
As all wash
But as I came in front of mirror
I shuddered with fear.
***
GEM OF SNAKE
There was a thick forest of mind
Knowledge was like a lightened tree,
The snake’s gem of inner self
Glittering on the forehead
And spreading its hood.
The snake charmer came with wide steps Playing bassoon of Ishq
Having snake pot of hope in his hands.
The fresh milk of love
The snake of self-found in its pot
The snake charmer sits in a crossing
Playing the bassoon and dancing snakes
And sometimes put snake
Around his neck.
The music is playing
But the watchers are weeping
All people came to see the feat.
***
JOURNEY
I don’t know
How is the ‘boat’ of today?
I even don’t know
How will be ‘island’ of tomorrow?
But I don’t know so
Love is a passenger
Who has to leave alone!
In this boat.
From the internal water
A wave has risen
And journey is tied
With the feet of wave.
A ray says daily
Come with me
We are to go
To the home of sun
I don’t know
How is ‘boat’ of today?
***
MY ADDRESS
Today,
I have erased my house number
Removed away the name of the street
On the corner
As well cleared identification of each road.
All numbers and signs have been removed
Still, if you have to find me
Knock at each door
Of every city and each country.
It’s a secret, a quest
Whenever, you see any flash of a gloomy soul
Then consider it’s my home.
***
(Translated from Punjabi by Hamza Hassan Sheikh)
****
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Authors
Amrit Kaur, popularly known as Amrita Pritam (31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005), born in Gujranwala, Punjab in British India — the only child of her parents Kartar Singh Hitkari, a poet and scholar of Braj Bhasha, and Raj Bibi, was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. Her literary work was over 100 books comprising of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography. All of her work has translated into several Indian, Pakistani and foreign languages. Amrita Pritam is best remembered for her poignant elegy “𝘈𝘫𝘫 𝘢𝘢𝘬𝘩𝘢’𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘩 𝘯𝘶” (“Ode to Waris Shah” — who was a sufi poet of Punjabi of the 18th century). As a novelist, her most noted work was 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘳 (“The Skeleton”, 1950). When the sub-continent was partitioned into two independent states of Pakistan and India, she migrated from Lahore (where she and her father had moved after the death of her mother when Amrita was only 11 years old) to India but she remained equally popular throughout her life in both the countries for her brilliant contribution to the literature. She was awarded the 𝘗𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘳𝘪 in 1969, Jananpith Award, 1982 for her work 𝘒𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘻 𝘛𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘴 (“The Paper and the Canvas”), and the 𝘗𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘝𝘪𝘣𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯 — India’s second highest civilian award — in 2004. She was also recipient of the highest literary award 𝘚𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘢 𝘈𝘬𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪 Award, 1956 for her remarkable long poem Sunehade, making her the first and the only woman to have been awarded for a work in Punjabi. Amrita was awarded to the “Immortals of Literature” for lifetime achievement.
View all postsHamza Hassan Sheikh is a short-story writer, novelist, and poet, who is published in anthologies and yearbooks in China, Taiwan, UK, USA, India and Australia. He is a PhD scholar in Film Studies at the University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Malaysia. He is an author of 15 books, 8 in English and 7 in Urdu. His books have been published in Pakistan, India and USA. Hamza Hassan Sheikh is first ever English novelist and short-story writer from his province KPK. He had received many national and international awards from Pakistan, Albania, Lebanon and Kazakhstan. He has visited Iran, India, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, UAE, Malaysia and Romania in his literary pursuit. Hamza Hassan Sheikh has also translated work of many international writers into Urdu and Pakistani Literature from Urdu, Punjabi, Saraiki, Hindko and Pushto into English. He has published a book — “𝑺𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕” — of translation of 50 poems of Amrita Pritam from Punjabi. He is also a participating speaker on different TV channels of Pakistan.
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Beautiful poems
Brilliant piece of poetry by the great Amrita Pritam. Her poetry is like her name.
Amrita Pritam is one of the few important women writers in the last century in Indian sub continent. One can feel the anguish born our of partition and love is a strong underlying theme throughout her poetry. She deserves to be communicated to the larger body of humanity. The translator has made a substantial effort to justify this task.
[…] To read poems by Amrita Pritam, Please click here […]