Shackles on your feet
Translated from the Urdu of Faiz Ahmed Faiz by Poorvi Vora.
Also appeared in To Topos Poetry International, PACIFICA: PEACE & the SEA, Vol. 5, pg. 49, 2003.
The Urdu version was written in Lahore Jail on 11 February, 1959.
To Hariharan, Zakir Hussain and Ismail Merchant, for a wonderful rendering and picturization of this in the film “Muhafiz”
Wet eyes and a crazed will are not enough;
Nor are accusations of a furtive love;
Stride in the bazaar today, shackles on your feet.
Stride with arms spread open and in wild abandon;
Stride with dust-covered hair and blood-stained shirt;
Stride, all the beloved city watches the road.
The official and the commoner;
Sad mornings and barren days;
Arrows of slander and stones of insult.
Who but we can be their companion?
Who in the beloved town remains free of guilt?
Who remains worthy of the killer's hand?
Broken-hearted ones, prepare to leave;
Let us stride to meet our death today.
The translator would like to acknowledge the contributions of Moazzam Sheikh, Frances Pritchett, Cormac Herley, Ajit Sanzgiri and S. Charusheela to this translation
Copyright © 2003 Poorvi Vora