Guest-Post by Jay
A poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of the most famous poets of the last century. During the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, he was arrested and taken to the police station in front of the public. In this context, he wrote ‘Aaj Bazaar Mein’.
This one is for Karachi.
Continue reading ‘Guest Post; Aaj Bazaar Mein’
How shall I compare thee to the Promised Land?
A dream unfulfilled, a desire unquenched,
Yours is a concept gone badly out of hand,
Soiled by murderous enmities deep entrenched.
Are you the successor to the Caliphate,
Bringing salvation to your constituents-
Or are you just another secular state?
Too often have our hopes been viciously bent.
Who is the king of your sublime destiny,
What do you profess is your vital essence?
Are we to anticipate some harmony,
Or just more ineffectual effervescence?
You are an enigmatic wish scarce defined,
Thy foreboding future yet to be divined.
This is a ‘what if?’ poem about what it would have been like if Jinnah had become an MP in Britain during his time in the 1920s-30s in London instead of going back to British India and creating Pakistan. Feel free to comment and interpret.
The land of his birth is but a distant memory.
All that remains of India is mere sensory.
He is a long, long way away-
Where cold is the night,
And foreboding the day.
Sashaying suavely in his Savile Row
He cuts a dashing silhouette.
After all, he has places to go,
And little to regret. Continue reading ‘M.A. Jinnah, MP’
Now I know this article will be extremely ambitious in trying to distil the beauty of Asrar-I-Khudi (The Secrets of the Self). After all, one can’t make like of the work which resulted in Allama Iqbal being knighted. Therefore, this short piece will focus on a concept in Asrar-I-Khudi which I feel has a poignant relevance for humanity today, and in many ways for Pakistanis specifically: time as a sword.
Continue reading ‘Asrar-I-Khudi’s ‘Time as a sword’ concept: which edge do we fall on?’
This is a topical piece on the state of Pakistani politics by Freddie. See what you make of it. Feel free to comment on the metaphors, the syntax, the rhyme and the analogies. What, if anything, particularly struck you about this poem?
There once was a man
He created a land called Pakistan.Soon came a landlord
Wealth innumerable he would hoard.Then came a lady, self-appointed messiah,
Preaching virtue, succumbing to desire.Along stroll a portly chap,
Into a self-generated power trap.A generalissimo followed therein,
All common sense gone down the bin.
Continue reading ‘The land that time forgot’
Here is a poem I wrote. I’d be interested in whatever interpretations come out of it. Feel free to comment.
I meander down a road.
A road which leads nowhere.
Through the light
Into the emptiness I stare.
I see a man, with smoldering eyes.
His will knows no bound,
His susurrus a thundering sound.
All the while, he fills the skies.
I call out to him,
Brother, who art thou?
