Tag Archives: higher ground

Remembrance

May 29, 2020Poemsbeloved, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, fragrance, heartache, higher ground, jasmine, loneliness, love, memory, Mirage, O love of my life, parting, poem, poetry, regret, Remembrance, romantic, rose, Satori Publishing, separation, smouldering, timeless, translation, union, universal, Urdu to English, wildernesssatoripublishing2013

O love of my life, in the wilderness of loneliness, shimmer
The shadows of your voice, the mirage of your lips
In the wilderness of loneliness, under the ashen dust
The jasmine and rose of your bosom are laid bare

Somewhere nearby arises the warmth of your breath
Smouldering in its own fragrance dimly, dimly
Faraway, beyond the horizon, glistening drop by drop
The dew of your beloved image is falling

O love of my life, this time with how much affection
Your memory placed its hand on the cheeks of my heart
The suspicion here, even though this is the morning of separation
The day of parting is over, the night of union has arrived.

( my translation of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz )

Empty Sky

May 9, 2020Poemsbeautiful soul, blank canvas, children, clouds, dreams, Empty Sky, faith, family, food for thought, gifts, grief, heartache, higher ground, masterpiece, moon, original, personal, poem, poetry, prayer, rainbow, regret, Satori Publishing, sorrow, spirit, stars, sun, timeless, truth, universal, wondroussatoripublishing2013

What can I leave you?
Now that you don’t want me to stay
What can I give you?
Something that you won’t throw away
Now that you don’t want me or my love
Nothing left, I point to the sky above

Use the empty sky as a blank canvas
I know you can paint a masterpiece
I have faith in your gifts, I confess
One day we will both find peace
I give you more than just an empty sky
One thing to remember each other by

Paint fluffy white clouds floating in blue
Wave your hand to set off a gentle breeze
Paint birds on the wing, singing in praise of you
Sunshine yellow, the whole rainbow, pretty please
Hang the moon and stars where you will
My god, it is your empty sky to fill

I will raise my hands high to touch
The caress of your breeze, your sun on my face
Raise my hands when I miss you too much
Bless your moon glowing on my dark space
I gave you an empty sky pole to pole
You have filled it with your beautiful soul

Now that I am on the other side of the world
I too will stand under that same sky
Whenever I think of my beautiful, baby girl
Every day and night, to remember you by
I cannot look into your wonderful eyes
But I can look up at your wondrous sky.

Separation Of

May 1, 2020Poemscutting edge, facing facts, food for thought, higher ground, Inspiration, inspire, lifestyle, men from the boys, personal, poem, poetry, Satori Publishing, Separation Of, spirit, The Life, timeless, truth, universal, visionary, winners from the loserssatoripublishing2013

The rest
The best
Mindset.

Prayer

April 7, 2020Poemsantidode, anxiety, declare this, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, falsehood, food for thought, higher ground, illuminate, investigate, poem, poetry, prayer, ritual, Satori Publishing, sweet antidote, timeless, translation, truth, universal, Urdu to Englishsatoripublishing2013

Come, let us also raise our hands
We who cannot recall the ritual of prayer
We who, apart from the fire of love,
Do not recall any idol, any god

Come, lay this appeal before Life, our beloved
Pour the sweet antidote of tomorrow into today’s poison
Those not strong enough to bear the weight of the times
Lighten the load, of the days and nights, on their eyelashes

Those no longer familiar with the face of dawn
Light a candle to illuminate their nights
Those whose footsteps, on any road, find no relief
Reveal to their sight the right path to travel

Those whose faith advocates falsehood and hypocrisy
May they have the courage to deny, the daring to investigate
Those who have the sword of tyranny waiting over their heads
May they gain the ability to cast off the killer’s hand

Whoever has the secret of love burning inside
Declare this today, and your burning pain will ease
The word Truth, pricks the heart like a thorn
Declare this today, and your anxiety will ease.

( my translation of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz ).

May God Not Bring …

April 6, 2020Poemsbitterness, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, false promises, food for thought, grief, higher ground, Inspiration, May God Not Send ..., mourning, poetry, Satori Publishing, sorrows, spirit, timeless, translation, truth, universal, Urdu to English, visionarysatoripublishing2013

May God not bring you that time of mourning
When peaceful sleep is forbidden to you
Your happiness to date brought to an end
Your life poured into a cup of bitterness

The mirror of your grief melts the heart
Only a swarm of sorrows are eager to remain
Extreme pain the only feeling to remain
Only in a dream does your youth remain

The pride in your beauty completely humbled
The long nights when you thirst for peaceful rest
Your mind thirsts for someone to share your grief
Like a hopeful autumn thirsts for Spring

No forehead willing to bow on your threshold
To submit in devotion, make you rejoice
To trust in false promises of tomorrow

May God not bring you that time to remind you
The restless heart that longs for you even now
The expectant eye that looks for you even now.

(my translation of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz).

Spring Came

March 29, 2020Poemsacross the board, dreams, dusty chapters, embraces, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, flowers, food for thought, higher ground, Inspiration, intoxicating, joy, love, memories, moon maidens, new angle, old accounts, perfume, poem, poetry, Satori Publishing, seasons, spirit, Spring Came, timeless, translation, truth, universal, Urdu to English, visionarysatoripublishing2013

Spring came, springing anew as if from nowhere
All those dreams, all those days of youth
That had died upon your lips
But after dying, it seemed each time,
All the flowers have bloomed afresh

Theirs the perfume of your memories
Theirs the blood of your lovers
All the anguish has boiled over
Grieving friends too are in dire straits

Lying drunk in the lap of moon maidens
All the dusty chapters of the heart
Yours, mine, all questions, all answers
Spring came, and opened up once again
A new angle to figure out old accounts.

( my translation of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz ).

Dawn Of Freedom (August 1947)

March 27, 2020Poemsartistic, creative, culture, dawn, Dawn Of Freedom (August 1947), facing facts, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, food for thought, freedom, higher ground, History, Inspiration, inspire, lifestyle, love, memory, oppression, partition, passion, poem, poetry, Satori Publishing, separation, spirit, the basics, timeless, tragic, translation, truth, universal, Urdu to English, visionarysatoripublishing2013

This stain-polluted light, this night-ravaged dawn
This is not that break of day yearned for in expectant hope
This is not the dawn whose desired promise we carried forth
We comrades set out convinced of finding somewhere or other
In the celestial desert a haven for the stars to finally come to rest
Somewhere for the night’s slow, lazy waves to lap a distant shore
Somewhere a safe harbour to dock the ship of heartache

The mysterious pathways known only to the blood of youth
When we friends set off so many hands tugged at our clothes
Reaching out from eager bed-chambers in the Abode of Beauty
Open arms enticed us, the siren calls of bodies in heat
Very dear, but all our love was for the vision of dawn
Very near, pure rays of light rising on her glowing robes
Our longing still strong, we shrugged off our fatigue

I have heard that the dark has been separated from the light
I have heard that the journey and destination have been unified
The behaviour of our fellow sufferers has changed full circle
Pleasure of union is now pure, the pain of separation is now impure

Fire in the liver, the vision unfulfilled, the pain of heartburn
The remedies for this severance have no affect on any ailment
Whence came the beauteous morning breeze? Blew away where?
There is no news yet of the lamp at the end of the path
There is no lessening yet in the heavy oppression of the night
The hour has not come for the deliverance of heart and soul
Keep moving … keep moving … our goal has not yet been reached.

( my translation of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz ).

Battle Cry

March 24, 2020PoemsBattle Cry, brash, cocky, creative, cutting edge, Fear, food for thought, higher ground, Inspiration, inspire, lifestyle, original, passion, personal, poem, poetry, Satori Publishing, spirit, the basics, The Life, timeless, truth, universal, Winksatoripublishing2013

“ I am Zafar !! “ ( YOU are the battle cry ! )
Life measured inside of a blink
Look your worst Fear in the eye
And give it a casual Wink.

Hum Dekhenge (We Shall Witness)

January 3, 2020Poemscall to arms, culture, cutting edge, death knell for dictators, facing facts, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, food for thought, higher ground, Hum Dekhenge, Inspiration, inspire, justice, Kaaba, oppressed, poem, poetry, prayer, rebellion, revolutionary, Satori Publishing, spirit, timeless, translated from Urdu, translation, truth, tyranny, universal, Urdu to English, visionary, We Shall Witnesssatoripublishing2013

We shall witness
Inevitable that we too shall witness
The day which has been promised
Written on the tablet of eternity
We shall witness

When mountains of tyranny will be rend asunder
Blown away like cotton fluff
Under the aching feet of the oppressed
The earth will tremble, quake, and shudder
And over the heads of the brutal rulers
The lightning will flash, strike, and thunder
We shall witness

When from the Kaaba, on god’s sacred earth,
All idols will be removed
We the dispossessed, exiled from the holy place,
Will be seated on cushioned thrones
All crowns will be flung aloft
All seats of power will be overturned
We shall witness

The only name to remain will be Allah
He who is absent and omnipresent
He who is the creator and the beholder
The clarion call “I am the Truth” will rise
As I am, so are you
And we, creations of God, will reign

We shall witness
As I am, so are you
We shall witness
Inevitable that we too shall witness
We shall witness.

( My take on a poem by the peerless, and ever-relevant, Faiz Ahmed Faiz).

Jihad Personal

December 3, 2019Poemsaspire, culture, cutting edge, facing facts, food for thought, higher ground, highest school, History, Inspiration, inspire, Islam, Jihad Personal, justice, lifestyle, original, personal, personal jihad, poem, poetry, recipes, revolution, Satori Publishing, spirit, the basics, The Life, timeless, truth, universal, visionary, worldly temptations, zensatoripublishing2013

Jihad personal a struggle against worldly temptations
Jihad personal a discipline to strengthen your weakness

The one lesson learned from times of yore
If you want peace — prepare for war

Jihad personal prepares you against the enemy’s attack
Jihad personal trains you to defend by fighting back

Jihad personal prevents you from attacking without reason
Jihad personal prevents you from launching an invasion

Jihad personal studies hard to root out ignorance
Jihad personal trains hard to branch out radiance

Jihad personal, in spite of the fools, is not a political tool
Jihad personal, fully understood, the best qualified school.

By A Factor Of

July 29, 2019Poemsacross the board, brash, By A Factor Of, cutting edge, dramatic, facing facts, food for thought, higher ground, Inspiration, original, passion, personal, poem, poetry, Satori Publishing, spirit, the basics, timeless, truth, universal, visionarysatoripublishing2013

Your land mass is 4x bigger
Your population is 6x larger
Your wealth is 10x larger
Your army is 5x bigger

Pick on somebody your own size.

Militant

July 29, 2019Poemsaspire, culture, cutting edge, dream, facing facts, family, food for thought, higher ground, hope, Inspiration, inspire, justice, lifestyle, memory, Militant, original, personal, poem, poetry, prayer, revolution, Satori Publishing, spirit, the basics, timeless, truth, universal, visionary, wishsatoripublishing2013

What do I want above all?

I want to work hard, make an honest living
To love and respect my mother and father
To take care of them in their old age
To look out for my brothers and sisters
To get married, and try to live happily ever after
To love and respect my wife, build a home together
To have children, love and provide for them
To watch them grow, run around, go to school
To guide them on their way in the world
To laugh and cry, go to weddings and funerals
To mix with family, relatives, and friends
To be part of the day to day soap opera
To work, pay tax, pay bills, to scrimp and save
To have a roof over my head on a rainy day
To one day be able to play with my grandchildren

The same as you.