1 The Alien Eyes
2 The Alien Eyes
THE ALIEN EYES
3 The Alien Eyes
4 The Alien Eyes
THE ALIEN EYES
By
Fakhira Batool
Recipient of:
i. Frang Bardhi Literary Prize 2014
(Galaktika Poetike ATUNIS, Albania).
ii. The International Best Poet 2013
(IPTRC China)
Translation
By
Muhammad
Shanazar
5 The Alien Eyes
All rights reserved with the publisher Nala e
Dil Publications, Bhera, Sargodha. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, and photocopying or otherwise
without the prior written permission of the
publishers.
First Edition: November, 2014
Quantity: 1000
Title: The Alien Eyes
Poetess: Fakhira Batool
Title Design AFS Advertiser
Price Rs. 300/= (In Pakistan)
U.S $ 30 (Including Postal Charges)
£ 22 (Including Postal Charges)
6 The Alien Eyes
Published by: Nala e Dil
Publications, Bhera
Phone: +92 304 530 4575
+92 333 472 0573
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook.com/nalaedil
www.nalaedil.wix.com/naladil
DEDICATED
Dedicated to all women of the
world whom Love broke and made
them to hang on the Cross with
broken shattered pieces of hearts.
7 The Alien Eyes
Fakhira Batool
8 The Alien Eyes
9 The Alien Eyes
Contents
Preface
11
Poems
1. You Forgot Me at Last 19 2. I Have To Say Something 20 3. Have You Ever Thought 21 4. Let Us Compose a Poem 22 5. Make a Search 23 6. Yes I Am Friendless 24 7. Love: A Gift 25 8. The Wall of Sand 26 9. Separation Became Indispensable 27 10. Defeat 28 11. What Is Love 29 12. The Moon Put Over The Clouds 31 13. Shamshan Ghot 32 14. What Do You Seek 34 15. The Island That Is Named Love 35 16. It Is Time To Come Into Senses 37 17. No Longer With Me 38 18. Suicide 39 19. Had There Been No Defeat 41 20. Separation Weeps 42 21. You Never Loved 43 22. If Love Gets Annoyed 45 23. Be Heeded 47 24. Write Not On Waters 49 25. A Tale Has So Many Modes 50
10 The Alien Eyes
26. I Am A Mother 52 27. December When You Turn Again 54 28. Do Not Let Me Annoyed 57 29. Poke Not The Ashes 58 30. Bring Me Back My Eyes 59 31. The End 61 32. Why Do You Sojourn In My Dreams? 62 33. Let Me Talk To The Wind 64 34. The Season Of Separation 66 35. My Love Your Are My Faith 67 36. Pity 69 37. Let Us Go To The Beach 70 38. An Astrologer 72 39. A Princess Resembles So 73 40. Love: A Miracle 75 41. An Old Belief 77 42. This Exhausted Moon 78 43. Hear Me! 79 44. If I Become Annoyed 80 45. You Are Fallen In Love 81 46. Let Us Suppose 82 47. Forgetfulness 83 48. You Have Cast Me Off 84 49. I Am Fond Of You 85 50. Let Us Confess 87 51. The Village Of Deceptions 88 52. We Are Hearts And Hands 89 53. ‘Love’ Is Not A Vain Word 90 54. Modes Of Love 91 55. The Alien Eyes 92
11 The Alien Eyes
56. Why Has God Created Those Lips? 93 57. Seasons Remain Not The Same 94 58. What A Small Poem It Will Be! 96 59. Love Is Like Sand 97 60. Achievement 98 61. I Have Been Enveloped… 99 62. On Love Half Realized 100 63. It Is Possible 101 64. Believe In My Oath 102 65. You Claim To Be True 103 66. Love Gets Crushed 104 67. Destiny 105 68. Bring Me Back First The Season ... 106 69. A Cry Yet Remains Behind 107 70. Today Is Your Birthday 108 71. Your Tone Is Twisting 109 72. If You Had Been Faithful 110
12 The Alien Eyes
13 The Alien Eyes
Preface
It is my profound pleasure as well as
good fortune that I discovered Fakhira
Batool a poetess of genuine heart and
sentiments; her genius, truthfulness of
emotions, maturity of thought and
adherence to the noble cause and
presenting herself as a representative of
women-hood compelled me to translate
her poetry into English so that it may be
read in the English Speaking Countries.
Fakhira Batool dealt with a variety of
subjects but nucleus of all is the same;
oppression, cruelty, discrimination and
indifference to the existence of Woman in
the world. She is born a poet-advocate
and pleaded well the case of her gender
in her poems, she has expressed the
delicate emotions of the true lovers but
the love, sincerity, purity and innocence
of the female partner ever remain
dominant in her poetry.
When you depart, go afar from me,
A dark shawl of depression
14 The Alien Eyes
From somewhere,
Who knows, how befalls on my head.
Fakhira Batool is well aware of pangs of
separation and pleasures of the union,
how different moments and segments of
time exert indescribable pleasing
influence and shadows of depression on
the fair-sex. Her eyes are open, ears are
very sensitive, she can even see the
sparks and hear the sound of emotions
running through blood. Fakhira Batool
lives amid the beautiful surroundings
and the world of romance created by
herself, she is not an escapist, she
mingles that created charm into hard
and cumbersome realities of life. Every
woman of the world passes through the
same sensation or fear lest her lover or
life partner should part; Fakhira Batool
gives expression to those general
feelings:
Hearken!
My heart goes through a fear
Lest you should forget me,
15 The Alien Eyes
Lest it should happen in such a season.
O! My love,
This was that I said to you,
But happened the same
You forgot me at last.
The romantic world that Fakhira Batool
creates is not less imaginative than that
of created by any English romantic poet;
she has all seasons in her inner-self
rather the whole colorful universe that
is why she has a large variety of images
to illustrate e.g., despised season, shawl
of depression, lamps of tears … quivering
edges of the lashes, drizzle of Monsoon,
brilliance inward and out all around,
bowl of chest, tinkle of the petals,
fondness of the flower fly and whisper
of the breeze etc. are the poetic images
which depict richness of the poetic mind.
As it has been indicated that Fakhira
Batool is an advocate of womanhood;
she does not possess a soft corner for
her opposite gender, it might be the
influence of some autobiographical
16 The Alien Eyes
elements, she has is of the opinion that
male-sex is rigid and stubborn, in one of
her poems, ‘The Wall of Sand’ she
expresses:
If it falls,
Let it fall hundreds of times,
It is useless
To make him understand,
For he shall make the wall of sand.
The poetic language Fakhira Batool
writes is figurative, it is replete with
similes and metaphors, the words seem to
be multi-coloured gems of a string, they
may lose their significance if go astray.
There is the flow of words depicting
sounds, smells and colours; different
shades of light embellish more the
expression and enhance more
mysteriously poetic influence on the
readers mind. In her poetry she goes
through an experience of some
confessions which can be noticed
17 The Alien Eyes
between the lines, she does not spare
herself while she regards others to be
imperfect beings of the world:
All move with no gain; but with pain,
Who will make out here the fellow
beings?
Here all chatter their own matters,
Everywhere there is helter-skelter,
Ah! Here we all are felons.
There are the repeated references of
unresponsiveness and callousness of the
male sex in her poetry. The poetry of
Fakhira Batool goes around one
dominant emotion which is still to be
revealed: the emotion of Love, she
regards It the most beautiful sentiment
of the universe without which the world
and life lose their meanings and
significance. She says, “ Love is a gift, It is
fragrance of the roses, shyness,
delicacy, perplexity, and tinkle of the
petals, fondness of the flower fly, silence
of the airs;…the glimpse of moon, the
18 The Alien Eyes
shine of stars, heat of the sun, whisper of
the breeze…”. It is very creative and
gorgeous delineation of Love: an
irrefutable reality of the universe.
Fakhira Batool though lives in multitude
of the people, yet she has a feeling of
loneliness, she thinks herself friendless,
it is because she does not find human
beings corresponding her thoughts and
mind; it is undoubtedly true that men of
sensitive nature suffer more in the world
than those who have common and
general level of feelings, sensitivity and
compassion.
Yes, I am friendless,
Yes, he showed me a dream,
Then made me a victim of his tyranny;
When the train of my tears broke,
They brimmed the bowl of my chest;
And when the Sun went asleep,
Someone burnt with out fire.
19 The Alien Eyes
Fakhira Batool is a poetess who believes
in destiny, in the roe of fate and chance,
she is of the opinion that some secret
force works against efforts of Man, life
is largely ruled by appearance and
disappearance of the elements of fate and
chance, man or woman is utterly in the
claws of fate, he or she is bound to go
trough the predestined channel of
catastrophe:
I was just to step ahead
At the very moment,
Address of the destination
Fell from the hand, and then lost,
At the same moment the fate slept,
While She was about to awaken,
So separation became indispensable.
Whatever is predestined, she is bold
enough to embrace it; she does not want
20 The Alien Eyes
to suffer through the twinge of curiosity
and delay and so hastens to reach the
end by devastating and perishing her life:
If separation is destined,
Why it is being delayed,
We will perform it now,
We will depart very moment.
Fakhira Batool while dwelling in the
world of romance and imagination does
not break her relation from the reality
and terrestrial world, she is not in
favour of chasing shadows and vain
ambitions as she is well aware of the
plight of those who run after the
illusions:
O! Friend do not cherish frivolous hopes
No one gets flowers here but thorns
Do not run behind the shadows,
O! My friend.
It is time to come into senses.
21 The Alien Eyes
The poetry of Fakhira Batool is
purposeful, it emits spirituality from its
lines, and she is of the opinion that every
object is a victim to decay and in fact the
splendour, glory, power and marvellous
beauty of Man in this world are
momentary and fleeting and she advises
in a very effective style:
O! Friend these gallant eyes,
These pretty limbs of body,
This splendid structure,
On which the world is astonished,
Are ordained to be decomposed.
A lot will be revealed about Fakhira
Batool’s poetry in the descending years
as time itself is the best judge to establish
someone’s status in the hierarchy of
poets. I deeply appreciate her for writing
worth-valuing poetry when majority of
the poets are toddling on the trodden
path. ‘The Alien Eyes’ will prove itself a
precious addition in English Literature; I
22 The Alien Eyes
regard it worth-including in the reading
courses at different levels of education
form Intermediate to Master. I am well
aware that we neglect the poets in their
lives, and adore them after their deaths,
and only a few get recognition in their
lives, I think it is injustice to the
intellectuals, therefore, I request the
high ranking officials of Govt. of
Pakistan as well as Educationists of the
country to patronize her officially, this
will add to the prestige of the country
and nation.
Muhammad Shanazar
You Forgot Me at Last
23 The Alien Eyes
In the despised season,
In the dripping drops of blood,
Only awakens sadness.
I read somewhere
Or heard someone,
It happens that this sadness
Being indifferent and heedless
Nips all of sudden,
Delicate buds of memories.
Hearken!
My heart goes through a fear
Lest you should forget me,
Lest it should happen in such a season.
O! My love,
This was that I said to you,
But happened the same
You forgot me at last.
24 The Alien Eyes
I Have To Say Something
I have to say something,
When you depart, go afar from me,
A dark shawl of depression
From somewhere,
Who knows, how befalls on my head.
25 The Alien Eyes
Have You Ever Thought
Have you ever thought,
Why the people migrate
Leaving behind their dwellings;
And prefer to leave for the world
unexplored.
Have you ever thought
How hundreds of lamps of tears enkindle
On the quivering edges of the lashes.
26 The Alien Eyes
Let Us Compose a Poem
Let us compose a poem,
In the drizzle of Monsoon,
Or in a small valley,
On the moments,
Which spent accompanying you,
Or
On innocent sentiments,
Or
On your brilliant eyes,
Or
On my quivering eyes,
Let us compose a poem.
27 The Alien Eyes
Make a Search
Search in the world of eyes,
Yes those eyes,
Where your reflection lives,
Where the moon and the star shimmer,
Where flickers a real lamp of true love,
Beholding of which descends
Brilliance inward and out all around.
Search in the world of eyes,
Perhaps you might find the eyes,
But be heeded,
Lest in search of those eyes,
You should lose your own.
28 The Alien Eyes
29 The Alien Eyes
Yes I Am Friendless
Yes, I am friendless,
Yes, he showed me a dream,
Then made me a victim of his tyranny;
When the train of my tears broke,
They brimmed the bowl of my chest;
And when the Sun went asleep,
Someone burnt with out fire.
On all sides around there surges blood,
All move with no gain; but with pain,
Who will make out here the fellow
beings?
Here all chatter their own matters,
Everywhere there is helter-skelter,
Ah! Here we all are felons.
30 The Alien Eyes
Love: A Gift
Love is a gift
For the Special Ones,
It is fragrance of the roses,
Shyness,
Delicacy,
Perplexity,
And tinkle of the petals
Fondness of flower fly,
Silence of the airs;
It contains,
The glimpse of moon,
The shine of stars,
Heat of the sun,
And whisper of the breeze;
31 The Alien Eyes
Love is a gift,
For the special ones.
The Wall of Sand
If it falls,
Let it fall hundreds of times,
It is useless
To make him understand,
For he shall make the wall of sand.
Sand- made is my home,
The rain is obstinate too,
It seems as if,
This will work a wonder at last.
32 The Alien Eyes
Separation Became
Indispensable
Very brief is the tale of separation,
Strange was my plight,
I was just to step ahead
At the very moment,
Address of the destination
Fell from the hand, and then lost,
At the same moment the fate slept,
While She was about to awaken,
So separation became indispensable.
33 The Alien Eyes
Defeat
If separation is destined,
Why it is being delayed;
Let us go asunder
At the very moment,
You will close the eyes
At the very moment,
And I shall place my hand
Upon my heart,
And you will say to me,
Detached are the paths,
Asunder are the destinations;
But be patient! Be patient!
34 The Alien Eyes
And listen to me my love,
If separation is destined,
Why it is being delayed,
We will perform it now,
We will depart very moment.
What Is Love
Love exits since beginning!
Beyond the string of words,
But is a reality.
Love in the firmament of thoughts,
In the guise of clouds,
Always flutters, soars high,
Sometimes contracted into the drops of
rain,
Impinges, scatters on the land of heart.
Taking delicacies from the breeze,
And fragrance from the roses,
Colours from the rainbow,
Light from the stars,
35 The Alien Eyes
Weave a beautiful Anchal,
And from the same Anchal adorns,
Mud-made houses.
Love throws into trials,
Sometimes becoming poetry,
Enhances deference of the words,
Sometimes becoming a tune,
Hums gradually,
It becomes an incarnated eye,
After getting the beloved one,
A strange touch it becomes,
In the alley of the most adored.
Who knows what kind
Of magical utterances it utters,
And hurriedly descends into the close
eyes
Of someone with out a knock,
And makes a residence.
Love smiles,
36 The Alien Eyes
It is a fragrance,
Always abodes in the breath of blossoms,
Such a light it is,
As it turns into moon the dark nights,
And permanent pang it contains,
That has Indescribable tang,
The definition of Love is that it is Love.
The Moon Put Over The Clouds
One night The Moon
From the assemblage of stars,
Descended on the roof.
He spoke to me steadily whispering,
“With deserted eyes,
Come ahead and touch me.”
I was afraid, I was shy,
And addressed thus
“How it may happen?”
37 The Alien Eyes
When He insisted on being touched,
I wished,
Going ahead I should touch it,
Bu till then,
The Moon went behind the clouds.
Shamshan Ghot
When the Sun hides countenance
Behind the black shawl,
All of sudden the city of night
Awakes with a poisonous turn,
It begins to glimmer like heavenly bodies,
And on the measured beats of drums,
And tinkles of anklets,
Begin to sway in the air, the tinted
Anchals.
38 The Alien Eyes
Geeta, Roshi, Amereeta, and Chanda
dancers,
In the herd of obstinate jingles
Dance as step feet of a peacock,
On the tones Tha Tha, Thi Thi,
They strut, twist in pride,
And after showing,
The glimpse of heartiness,
Beautify and elegance,
Making the bodies bows and arrows,
And embellishing lips with fake smiles,
Dance amid the rain
Of brand new currency noted.
There surmounts all around
The noise of unabashed guests,
The chief-whore chewing the betel leaves,
Glints up the right brow,
She is cheerful with the prettified eyes.
Think awhile!
Isn’t it a Shamshan Ghot, of womanhood,
39 The Alien Eyes
Her Ego and reverence,
Respect and deference?
Notes: Shamshan Ghot: a place where the
Hindus dispose of dead bodies.
Tha Tha, Thi Thi: the tones upon which
the professional dancers dance.
Anchal: a piece of light thin cloth used by
the women to cover heads.
What Do You Seek
What do you seek
In between lines of hand?
What do you seek
In these trifles?
Why do you entangle yourself?
He who is destined to meet,
Begins to walk on the path of life,
40 The Alien Eyes
With out beholding lines of fate;
And then never departs.
He that is not in the fate,
We never obtain,
And never goes along.
What do you seek
In between lines of hands?
The Island That Is Named Love
If you have to go,
To the Island that is named Love
Take my memory along.
It is heard
That once there live a couple of swans,
41 The Alien Eyes
They both governed each other’s heart,
Picked dreams descending into the eyes,
Wove the fabric of faithfulness with
silky dialogues,
And renovated it on each day;
But what happened as the season
changed,
They both flew on diverse directions,
It is heard
Since then they were not seen together.
The Island that is named Love,
If you will have to go there,
Please do visit the lonely tree,
Upon whose costume of the branches,
On every side the names of lovers are
carved.
It is heard
42 The Alien Eyes
That the inscribers never get a chance to
rewrite,
They stamp their fingers with blood,
They lose their fortune, they accepted
their defeat.
The Island that is named Love
If you will have to go there,
Take my memory along.
My memory is a shade in sweltering
temperature
And it is a season of some village of the
past.
43 The Alien Eyes
It Is Time To Come Into Senses
O! Friend these gallant eyes,
These pretty limbs of body,
This splendid structure,
On which the world is astonished,
Are ordained to be decomposed.
Here pain of love is shocking
No I but the whole world declares it so
O! Friend this love is nondescript
It always deprives one of crown and
throne
On all sides around it rules.
O! Friend do not cherish frivolous hopes
No one gets flowers here but thorns
Do not run behind the shadows,
O! My friend.
44 The Alien Eyes
It is time to come into senses.
No Longer With Me
There is no more,
A deep layer on the eyes,
I live no more in the fantasies,
So there is no more agony of love.
I live no more on taking and giving,
And in outline of life,
The moment that slipped away,
From the lashes of my eyes,
And from the palms of your hands,
Had been a dream since ages,
But it no longer exists.
On seeing me your bewilderment,
Is a question,
It is true I am the same and you are too,
But my heart that was fond of you,
45 The Alien Eyes
Is no longer with me.
Suicide
“Written on Mother Day”
She beholds yellow faces of her kids,
Sometime she caresses them,
Sometime she traces in their eyes
Deep hunger and thinks
She couldn’t impart them any pleasure,
She couldn’t afford them life,
The home is sans contents of food,
She couldn’t pay bills of utilities,
The kids have been struck off from the
school,
They only look at an empty railway
track,
Perhaps the time of arrival of the train is
near,
At that moment
46 The Alien Eyes
She detaches them from her bosoms,
And kisses them for the last time,
And softly she tells them
“The world we are going to, there is
bountiful to eat”.
The train comes and then goes away,
The spot where mother and the kids sat,
There is nothing, only a few scattered
bits,
An empty satchel and shreds of
motherhood,
There remains nothing behind.
47 The Alien Eyes
Had There Been No Defeat
He said “Defeat is very deep
As deep as an ocean,
That who drowns into it,
He never emerges up,
So make conquest tradition of love.”
I said “No doubt it is a deep mystery,
But think a while,
If there had been no heart in the chest,
Where love would have been,
Had there been no defeat in life,
There would have been no existence
Of love in the world.”
48 The Alien Eyes
Separation Weeps
Those who break up relations,
Perhaps forget,
They meet by embracing,
Each season all alone,
But they weep not alone.
On becoming restless,
Saddened and impatient,
Separation itself,
Accompanies them in wailing.
49 The Alien Eyes
You Never Loved
You had no experience of love,
If loved why you didn’t ask
From paths about the destination,
You might have written
Any message on the gusts of wind,
Why didn’t you search for the name,
Written on stems of the trees.
You might have remembered,
Fragrant roses soaked in the cold dew,
And the moment
When you touched my colourful Anchal,
We conversed about butterflies
And glowworms, and sometimes
Sketched hearts on the paper-boat
50 The Alien Eyes
By pouring out the words of dream.
You might have remembered,
Valiancy of the flower-fly
And opening of the buds into petals.
Did you ever love? If you loved,
You could never forget all these affairs.
No my love, you did not love,
You might have seen love,
You might have thought for love,
You might have wished for love,
But you never loved at all….
51 The Alien Eyes
If Love Gets Annoyed
Faithfulness,
When gets over the shawl
Of compromise,
And assumes,
The shape of Winter,
It descends in the patio of heat.
It smiles like a bow of stars
Hanging on the lashes,
And sometimes it gives
An unsmelt perfume,
Of the untouchable figures
Of dreams.
When the chains
Of countless moments spent
52 The Alien Eyes
Along someone endeared,
Begin to jingle in the mind,
Silence at once cries
On the cable of breath;
It seems as if gusts of winds,
Come to whisper.
O! My Friend,
Now you might have realize,
The true nature of love;
Whatever wounds it imparts,
It never allows to stitch
And if love gets annoyed
It dose not allow to be alive.
53 The Alien Eyes
Be Heeded
My love! Then you have decided,
That it is apposite to flatten
The craving of destination,
The world desires it too,
And the life goes on in the same mode.
Listen! To grumble against the world
Has become an old practice,
You solicit to your heart too
That what does it intend.
The world has not snatched yet from you
The hope of destination,
Tomorrow it will persuade you
To renounce the route of life;
It will say to you to scratch out
Your eyes from their sockets.
The world will persuade you
54 The Alien Eyes To search for pulsation in the idols;
Then what will you do?
Suppose it will not be said to you,
Just you will be convinced,
It is useless to breathe,
And you forget the whole endeavour;
Speak! Will you kill your breathing?
Listen! To grumble against the world
Has become an old practice;
You will look like the veteran,
Who at the moment of a combat thinks
That he remembers all tactics to fight,
And has brought all weapons of need,
But he has forgotten in haste
His valour at home.
Be heeded my love!
The pedestal of life
Is commitment to destination,
55 The Alien Eyes
In case you lose it how will you survive?
Write Not On Waters
Write not on waters,
To write on waters is not a good
practice.
Whatever you write on them,
Whether it is meeting or parting,
Whether it is pang or tang,
Is not perpetual.
The inscriptions on waters are fleeting,
They take us into illusions,
And wipe away us all.
56 The Alien Eyes
A Tale Has So Many Modes
A Tale has so many modes,
Sometime smiles,
And sometime hums,
Sometime scares,
And sometime is scared;
It makes us weep,
It makes us laugh,
It erases and then makes us all,
The Tale helps us in annoyance,
I have a relation with it very old.
The Tale itself is Time,
She came today but was much troubled
And said to me,
“Friend! Sassi became decrepit
57 The Alien Eyes
Amid the sands of deserts,
And your feet are perforated
With thousand of thorns,
And the very thorns have
Pierced your heart too, but you are
Still silent even today,
Death has stamped your fingers,
The lamp that you put on the palm,
Has been put out since long,
Only ashes remain behind,
Perhaps the traveller is lost
In the prison of the route,
That is why all over silences prevail
But the Tale comes every day,
To impart a new wound
In the bleeding heart.
Note:- Sassi is a character of a romantic
58 The Alien Eyes
folk tale.
I Am A Mother
I am a mother and I know,
My child,
When and why calls me,
What makes him weep,
And what makes him smile,
When he takes respite,
And how he giggles.
I am a mother and I know,
But when he will be grown up,
He will disclose his heart,
And sometime conceal the truths
Assuming
59 The Alien Eyes
That the mother is ignorant of all,
Being at home what will she know,
He will come home late devising pretexts,
And at that moment,
I knowing all will show indifference,
For it is the nature of mother.
How can my son know,
That motherhood passes through
His veins in the form of blood,
If he gets a prick of thorn the mother
tosses,
Where ever he goes,
He remains cosseted amid,
The invincible siege of prayers,
He remains in the heart of mother.
Whenever he steps ahead,
And wherever he goes
60 The Alien Eyes
The Anchal of cool shadow
Remains with him,
I am a mother and I know him all.
December When You Turn
Again
O! December,
When you turn again this year,
You bring along
The news of the city which I long for.
The city
Where galaxies glimmer of glow-worms,
Where the spheres beam
With the colours of butterflies,
Where all-around is the aroma
Of faithfulness.
That one who touches it,
61 The Alien Eyes
Either with glance, or with fingertips,
Became perfumed for a while.
O! December,
When you turn again this year,
You bring along
The news of the city which I long for,
The city where grains of sand are stars,
The rose and the nightingale,
The moon and the stars,
Are the metaphors of faithfulness,
Where the heart is an ocean,
And gets several banks,
Where the goddess of fortune
Glimmers in the close palms.
O! December,
Ask us not the plight of our city,
62 The Alien Eyes
Here eyes are grimed
With the dust of caravan passed by,
Here love is like an iceberg,
And grows on the farms of sunlight,
Here when the dawn emerges,
The exhausted dreams of night
Are dumped and begin to thaw,
Here splinters of broken passion
Prick in the eyes, here we weave
Golden dreams by dipping
Lashes into the blood of hearts,
Then live and die
Amid those fascinations.
Though it is impossible to stitch
The tattered soul yet,
O! December do come and bring along,
The news of the city which I long for.
63 The Alien Eyes
Do Not Let Me Annoyed
Though
I rag you thousands of times,
And reconcile not thousands of times,
Yet
I plead, do not let me annoyed
If I become angry with you.
64 The Alien Eyes
Poke Not The Ashes
How pride of the dreams
Shattered in a moment!
And how the bits bled the eyes!
Who placed,
The burning coals on the tray?
Who deserted,
These wrists of yours?
Who erased
The lines of hands?
Who inscribed the pang
Of separation on the forehead?
The descending fog will blow out
The lamps of lashes;
Ah! It is not a delightful fun
To poke the ashes.
65 The Alien Eyes
Bring Me Back My Eyes
Bring me back my eyes,
For I shall behold
All colours of the universe.
I shall captivate
The galaxies in my eyes,
And steal all colours of roses
To adorn my countenance.
I shall behold
How the pang of separation
Inscribes lines on the forehead,
How love makes
Hermits the kings,
And union fills
The eyes with stars.
I shall behold
66 The Alien Eyes How tears drop
From the lashes when one weeps,
And if one laughs impulsively
How pink roses
Bloom instantly on the lips.
I shall behold
Why the snakes complain
Against the lady of night,
How the petals uncatch themselves
From the flowerer-flies,
Why the butterflies become
Gloomy seeing the flowers,
Who wrote all the mysteries
On the chest of mother Earth.
I yearn to pick
All seasons with the lashes.
O! My love,
You keep the reality with yourself,
But only once show me a dream
67 The Alien Eyes Though glimmering
Like a tiny glow-worm.
The End
The affair advanced,
In such a way,
He sent me a rose,
I opened the book,
Placed amid the leaves,
And kept it hidden
From all spying eyes.
At last it happened
There remained behind,
Nothing else except,
Some dried petals, and a little
Perceptible fragrance.
68 The Alien Eyes
Why Do You Sojourn In My
Dreams?
Why do you sojourn in my dreams?
Sometime
In the form of intoxicated breeze,
Sometimes
With fondness of the flower-flies,
Sometimes
In the wild look of a hermit,
Sometimes
With fragrance of flowers,
Sometimes
In the form of an innocent hope,
Sometimes
In the shape of a moon-ring,
69 The Alien Eyes
Sometimes
In the type of a string of stars,
Sometimes
In the texture of a woolen shawl,
Sometimes
As a butterfly,
Sometimes
As a glow-worm,
Sometimes
In the style of fragrance.
Why do you sojourn in my dreams?
70 The Alien Eyes
Let Me Talk To The Wind
Let me talk to the wind,
We have to tell the complaint,
That we nourished against her,
Often it knocks at the doors,
And disturbs our sleep,
Sometimes brings along from abroad
The news of arrival of the dear one,
But he comes not. It blows out
All quivering lamps of the lashes,
Sometimes awakens melody in the lute,
It mixes itself in the beats of heart-beats,
Sometimes it fells aged dried leaves,
It gives the birds a ride
By making them homeless.
71 The Alien Eyes
Let me talk to the wind,
Look how it descends,
Pushes boats on the chest of the sea,
It blows from all directions around,
And with a caressing touch
Shapes unsullied faces on the coastal
sand,
Then it flattens them all and how it
trains
The wingless clouds to soar,
Then squeezing the drops
Out of them garnishes the Earth,
How it smiles and hums
Diving into the chain of breath,
How it blows swishing
And then becomes motionless;
To make out these secrets,
72 The Alien Eyes
Let me talk to the wind.
73 The Alien Eyes
The Season Of Separation
He inquired,
“Were all dreams shattered?”
I responded,
“No there left some behind.”
He inquire again,
“Since when have you been conversing to
yourself?”
I responded,
“It is a gift bestowed by aloofness.”
He said,
“What have you done with bright eyes,
Rosy cheeks and golden facade?”
I answered,
“There rests in my inner-self the season of
separation.”
74 The Alien Eyes
My Love Your Are My Faith
MY Love!
You are my faith,
I am a Heart
And Soul you are my Love!
You bestowed
The dreams to these eyes,
You touched
Tone of the pulsating heart,
Instilled
Scent into breath,
You unfasten
The window of thoughts,
Your touch transformed
75 The Alien Eyes
The forehead into moon,
Then you stealthy
Stole sparkle from the beams,
Seeing which all of sudden,
The heart fluttered,
The moon smiled.
Who knows how many dreams
You showed
Till the dawn emerged,
You picked
Bafflement of the lashes.
You are the Guest of my Heart!
You are my Faith, my Love!
76 The Alien Eyes
Pity
He demanded
My eyes from me,
The black lace of lashes,
Shy rosiness of the cheeks,
All sparkle of the face,
Pinkness of the lips,
Dark night of the locks,
Golden sunlight of the forehead,
Curling hair, and ear-ring,
All grace of innocence,
Immature charm of youth,
Silvery arms,
And essence of the existence.
He demanded and I granted all,
But the secret has revealed today,
All affairs of love
And loyalty were transient,
Emotional and fleeting,
He nourished only pity for me
77 The Alien Eyes And not love.
Let Us Go To The Beach
Let us go to the beach
To weave a golden net
With the lashes,
Dive deep into the ocean,
To thieve melodious tones
Of the oysters,
To pick gust of scent
With the tender tips of fingers,
To touch the pain,
And listen to its conversation.
Let us go to the beach,
To see un-ravished petals
Of the roses
On which dewdrops cheer up
For a while then faint down.
78 The Alien Eyes
The sand of wanderlust
Troubles the eyes,
Let us capture
The fresh moon-beams
In the fist and steal there
The seven tones from the wind.
Let us both make
An earthen house,
Though for a while,
Yet to smile heartedly.
Let us count there
Those months and years
Which have been inscribed
On the stones and dried leaves;
Let us go to the beach…..
79 The Alien Eyes
An Astrologer
He sat beside the road,
And was busy in telling the people,
What fates have been ordained,
I impulsively stopped beside him,
And inquired,
“What fortune is your own,
Do you know?”
He became distressed,
Then he composed himself
And responded,
“Lo! How deep is creased
The line of swindling at my palm.”
80 The Alien Eyes
A Princess Resembles So
He said, “You are the princess,
Princess that God might have made,
Kneading, blending the seven colours,
Incarnated a form of brilliance.
If you cast a glance at someone,
Even the stone gets a tongue,
Opens the eyes steadily,
Pledges you to provide
Whatever you desire,
Whatever you think, it will give you
By selling its whole entity:
Body and soul.
Just make a motion, a gesture,
I will sacrifice the whole lot.
I desire to win you,
81 The Alien Eyes
By loosing the game of love,
By surrendering the whole being,
If I go back my words,
May I not live this life the next minute,
May I not inhale the second breath.”
He said, “You are the princess.”
I am engrossed how princess looks alike.
Does she resemble me?
Yes; the princess bears resemblance
Such as I am.
82 The Alien Eyes
Love: A Miracle
Love is light, a melody,
A strange inexpressible taste it has,
It possesses invincible the strength,
Sometimes digs a range of mountains,
Sometimes tramples sands of the desert,
Sometimes swims on the unhardened
pitcher,
Sometimes diverts course of the clouds,
Now becomes captivity of Laila,
And then lunacy of Qais,
Now like Khizar shows the exact route,
Then demands to bow beneath the
daggers,
It knows how to walk on the thorny
paths,
It knows how to die laughingly,
It knows how to kick the worldly
83 The Alien Eyes
splendour,
It requires to be placed in the being-built
walls,
It makes the stakes a gratifying hobby,
Now turns the gardens into ashes,
Then becomes sparkle of the crop of
roses,
It is the secret of self and ecstasy too,
Love has a strange chain of affairs,
Now Yasrab then Karbala
In each shape it has been dwelling,
Love is a miracle and total submission
too.
84 The Alien Eyes
An Old Belief
I shall write on my palm,
In the colour of henna
The same old belief
“Whatever it happens,
Men are never faithful.”
85 The Alien Eyes
This Exhausted Moon
This exhausted moon
Is the dream of someone’s eyes,
Those eyes which have been penalized
For being awake.
This moon is agony,
The agony which mixed into dust
In no time, the rosy moments.
This Moon is a response
Of such a question as it never
Has emerged in the mind
Of anyone even by now.
This moon is a chapter
Of some pain, of some union,
Of some separation;
If you confront him ever
Ask the exhausted moon,
Seek a reply from him,
Who caused him soreness
86 The Alien Eyes Who awoke him from the slumber.”
Hear Me!
Hear me!
I have to say you something,
“After spreading colours on my face,
Showing dreams to my eyes,
Touching with talks pulsation of my
heart,
Filling my hem with a galaxy,
Overspreading my head with an Anchal
of faith,
Become not disloyal to depart again.”
87 The Alien Eyes
If I Become Annoyed
Brawls between us,
Tangling, expostulating,
And threatening not to return,
No doubt,
All these have their apposite worth;
But be heeded, hear me!
Though I am stubborn, adamant,
Yet if I become annoyed,
Absolve my all imperfections,
By embracing,
Reconciling with me again.
88 The Alien Eyes
You Are Fallen In Love
When the clouds move swaying to the
desert,
The roses scent the air lacerating the
rocks,
The grains of sand become a galaxy,
The moon becomes envious on seeing the
earth,
The waterfalls engender melodies,
Wires of the heart throb on naming
someone,
All dreams awake in the dormant eyes,
Autumn begins to converse with spring,
Dusk of the evening perches on the
lashes,
Silence on the lips becomes a message,
The season of intimacies begins to linger,
Then you think you are fallen in love.
89 The Alien Eyes
Let Us Suppose
Let us suppose,
In case you had been faithful,
I would see the dream of life,
Expostulate with the fortune,
Dwell in your heart,
Would make you my own,
Would have never
Bothered the world,
In case you had been faithful.
90 The Alien Eyes
Forgetfulness
I have decided to forget you,
But
It is impossible to forsake you,
If I disown you,
I shall have to renounce life.
91 The Alien Eyes
You Have Cast Me Off
I was the only one,
Who caressed your all wounds;
I was the only one, my Love!
Who with pens of my lashes,
Time and again, wrote thousands
Of couplets on your conversing eyes;
And on the land of your heart
Placed I thousand of the reflections
Of faithfulness.
Speak!
Who gave you life against the wish of death?
But what have you done?
Have You cast me off too?
92 The Alien Eyes
I Am Fond Of You
He often said,
“You are not fond of me.
I responded,
“It is just a dawn my Love!
Confession is yet to be expressed,
Whatever I wish to say,
I shall not speak it yet,
I conceal from myself a lot,
I defer the emotions,
If they appear on the tongue.”
“Listen, My Love!
Stop for a while for it is my turn,
I am fond of you that is why
I become annoyed on every trifle,
And all of sudden become shattered,
Like a piece of mirror;
And if you delay in coming back,
93 The Alien Eyes
Thousands of suppositions
Torment my fond heart,
This or that may not happen.
Peek into my eyes, My Love!
How much love for you I have in my
store,
For I am fond of you.”
94 The Alien Eyes
Let Us Confess
O! My love,
Separation of centuries
Ensued between us,
But the son of love
Still shines in the heart.
Though we parted
Yet remained loving;
Let us confess that we dwell
In the heart of each other.
95 The Alien Eyes
The Village Of Deceptions
The world O! Friend,
Is a village of deceptions,
No deference is observed
Behind the pardas.
This is the place where we meet
Losses but not the truth.
O! Friend speak caring least
The difference of ‘I’ and ‘You’,
Here marital pleasures
Of all are robbed off.
Do not press your tongue,
Between the teeth, for your silence
Holds a storm in it.
The world in itself without you,
Is nothing, proclaim aloud
That it has severed you
Only with the fever of love.
96 The Alien Eyes
We Are Hearts And Hands
Be not annoyed with me,
Those who go asunder
On the winding route
Are in fact alien since beginning.
If it is possible,
Think not of them your own,
And be not melancholic,
O! Friend,
Make not your courage
The dust of their feet.
Be not annoyed with me,
Never lose your valour,
Till breath goes on be optimist,
Leave not the edge of hope,
Tough love is afar yet it is near too.
Rise! Gird up your back ,
For I am with you,
We both are hearts,
And hands of each other.
97 The Alien Eyes
‘Love’ Is Not A Vain Word
With a pride, with a delight
I have inscribed
The word ‘Love’ on the slate
Of my heart and often think
For whom I am engrossed.
This intellect my Love!
Is an enemy of curiosity of heart,
And a chain of decline,
Though there be aged prints
Of faithfulness,
It erases them in an instant.
Let it be thought, it is true,
Though there be series of oppression,
Or aching thoughts,
Or the decisions worth-forgetting,
Or anguish of penitence,
No loss is there, erase them all,
But my Love, think awhile,
If you get a moment spare,
98 The Alien Eyes My ‘Love’ was not a vain word.
Modes Of Love
Who can forget,
Pages of the bulky book of life,
Even though
They are torn to pieces.
The first colour that awoke in the eyes,
The first name that my lips liked,
The village and an unpaved
Path of that village,
The first spell of love,
An undreamt dream in your eyes,
And lowering of my eyes in shyness,
Innocent confession in my denials,
While saying “Yes” my impulsive “Nots”
Who can forget,
All these modes of ‘Love’.
99 The Alien Eyes
100 The Alien Eyes
The Alien Eyes
He in whose name I breathed,
Whose name remained on my lips,
He crept in such a way as that each
Recess of my being became fragrant.
I wrote his name on the palm in Henna,
But he met me today in such a manner
As with alien eyes on his face.
101 The Alien Eyes
Why Has God Created Those
Lips?
He often said,
“Do you know why God created your lips?”
On my unawareness he replied,
“So that they should confess,
You are mine, you are mine”
And then,
I became habitual in saying,
“I am yours, I am yours.”
Then a day came, he spoke wearily
To my routine expressions,
“It is queer you neither feel fatigued
Nor experience tedium, and then
It is true; the same sentence has been learnt
To be said by the lips of someone else.”
102 The Alien Eyes I am pondering that I should ask him,
“Tell me my Love!
Why has God created those lips?”
Seasons Remain Not The Same
(Written in the perspective of Kashmir)
The birds have awoken,
So discard the intension
To trap them with no water
And with no grain. They too need
Some crimson evenings of freedom;
They are being invited
By the washed clear dawns,
And by the spring-tide.
They remember too the soil
Of unpaved mud-plastered yards,
They like to dream about fragrant roses,
And they bear in minds
References of the books.
103 The Alien Eyes
The birds have awoken …
Their nests in the trees sobbingly wail,
They make them perturbed,
Their dreams are frailer
Than the wings of butterflies
That smolder in the burning coals.
They all are being brought up in the
flames,
But it is the time of their wakefulness
That this red wind-storm is just like
The scattering wall of sand.
The chains of separation
Do not always jingle on the feet
Nor the inscription of union
Always does glow in the eyes,
Nor airs always fragrance contain,
Nor seasons always the same remain.
104 The Alien Eyes
What A Small Poem It Will Be!
I have written a lot yet it seems
Nothing has been penned,
I have to sketch yet
The countenance of my dream,
And grip its realization in close palm,
Because the heart still palpitates,
And pain resides in there,
Dust of the past moments jab the eyes,
Someone’s memories make the lashes
sodden,
And shehnai still weeps.
105 The Alien Eyes
I have to write yet on water,
And all around will be the tale of
separation, What a small
poem it will be…
106 The Alien Eyes
Love Is Like Sand
I said it too,
Love is like sand,
It slips down through fingers,
But some grains stick with the palm,
And when it is bushed,
These grains pass through eyes
While journeying to the soul,
They often weep and wail
Lying in its secret channels,
But troubling a lot.
107 The Alien Eyes
Achievement
It was his habit to say,
“I had only thought of you,
And loved you since centuries,
Then became successful
In getting you,
No one is more beautiful than you my
love, If the moon has a glimpse
of you, No doubt he
will become jealous,
You are brightness of the red rose,
Fragrance has an urge to touch you,
Each moment is in ecstatic sway,
The sun steals luminosity from you,
The touch of your lips makes the word a
matter, You may turn
instantly the victory into a defeat,
I shall never uncatch you,
No rivals will have the right to get your
favours, Whenever
you detach, I shall die at the spot.”
108 The Alien Eyes
But it was all that he used to say,
And he is not saying at present,
Who knows there exists a century
Between “was” and “is”.
I Have Been Enveloped…
The world demands,
At each movement new affairs,
New days, new nights,
New eves and new morns,
New oaths, new pledges,
New relations and new links;
Now they do not laud the olden tales.
O! My love,
I myself became bushed of reiteration
Of the words and lines,
Then I wrapped the poetic lines
And diction in the red paper
I set them on the dancing flames
Of my inner-self.
When the flying particles of ashes
enquired me, “What
will you do hence,
109 The Alien Eyes
What will you listen, and what will you
say?” ‘Your ‘Daman’ is
empty.’ Then
I respond, “I shall neither do anything
hence, Nor shall listen, nor shall
say anything.” The
world has made me a legend,
For I have been enveloped by a tale.
On Love Half Realized
Even in the dream
Never lay your lashes
For half-realized love.
Half curtailed dreams
Torment the eyes.
Implant not half-recalled memory,
In the terrain of heart, for it pricks
And wheezes restlessly therein,
Rattles agonizingly,
110 The Alien Eyes
And flashes like lightening in the blood.
Let go away love half-realized
For Love, Fondness,
And Love Madness
Are always unfulfilled, half-realized.
111 The Alien Eyes
It Is Possible
It is possible that you
From each word of love,
May derive thousand of meanings,
And then your yourself refute them.
It is possible My Dear
That its charm may make you paralyzed,
And you finding yourself
In the lonely dark cave of heart
May confess, express reality of love.
But who will guarantee?
You never write 'No' prior to 'Yes',
And you never write 'Yes' prior to 'No'.
112 The Alien Eyes
Believe In My Oath
Believe in my oath,
I do not pine away in the pangs of
separation, My lashes are not
yet damp,
No one is between except ourselves.
Believe in my oath,
Inhabitants of the world
Do not have the strength to impede us
While moving ahead on the path of love.
I lived the moments of my past life,
Only tossing and panting for you;
But believe in my oath,
My fervour for you is not the same.
What is hidden in the sleeves,
You can not behold, believe in my oath,
The flag of compromise I do not hold in
hand I have even forgotten
your name, If you
are faithless, believe in my oath,
113 The Alien Eyes
I am not faithful too.
You Claim To Be True
You claim to be true,
I tell no lie to you too,
You bring me tidings of good times,
That they will come too,
In the patio of my house
The flowers will smile
And they will instil fragrance into my
breath, Have you ever
thought that the spring tide
Often goes astray forgetting the path
Of someone’s house, but you claim to be
true.
114 The Alien Eyes
Love Gets Crushed
Lust when possesses the heart
And rises Its head through earth of
wisdom, At the very
moment
When life makes Lust its nucleus,
It sets on fire everything all-around,
And garnishes conquest on Its heads,
At the very moment Love gets crushed.
115 The Alien Eyes
Destiny
O! Fortune-Teller,
Who inscribed consternation
In your eyes after reading,
The lines of my hands?
Tell me what tale you have read,
Tell me at least whatever the tale is
Whether there will be an end of it or not.
O! Fortune-Teller,
Tell me at least something
Whether there will be an end
Of the tale or not.
116 The Alien Eyes
Bring Me Back First The Season
...
These beautiful bracelets of Motia,
This Kagal, this henna,
Glassy bangles and a tray of red-roses,
Beautiful are the green Anchal and
scarlet suit, The same is
sound of the mill,
The same is the crowed on the well
Village is the same, same are the rites,
Same are the old faces but bear new
looks, The same tale,
the same promises,
The same fraudulent are the oaths,
O! My old well-wisher, it is all right,
But bring me back first the season to
write on sand.
117 The Alien Eyes
A Cry Yet Remains Behind
You went across the seven seas,
It seems as if several centuries have
elapsed. The seasons of union
came and went away,
But all tired, exhausted.
Behind you I became a victim of
daggering tongues,
The relations also made me feeble and
frail, The long dark
nights of separation
Made me powerless too.
The wounds of experience were dungeon
deep, No physician could heal,
118 The Alien Eyes
restore them back. There had
been hefty spectacles of a dream,
When it broke nothing was beside;
It had been better we should not have
survived, Our existence did not
match our beings. Ask
me not what happened in this episode,
What listened to and what I endured,
Founts of water gurgled from the eyes
for several years;
The walls of breast even now often
quake, It seems as if
they are saying,
“Peep into the inner part of your Self
A cry yet remains behind to be uttered.”
Today Is Your Birthday
Today is your birthday.
Do you know what happened years ago?
Speak my friend! Resolve the riddle!
Why are you so engrossed in thoughts?
Why are you so silent?
Come let me tell you,
119 The Alien Eyes
Years ago on the very day,
A sun-beam embellished this earth,
And smiled.
Do you know this secret?
Today is your birthday.
120 The Alien Eyes
Your Tone Is Twisting
The earth is the same,
And the sky is the same too;
This heart is an ocean,
And the eyes are its whirlpools,
Belief is the same,
And same are the delusions,
The moon and galaxy are the same,
Your form and features,
your conversation are the same,
But I have the sense for many days,
The sun is thawing
Descending into clamours;
In fact you tone is twisting.
121 The Alien Eyes
If You Had Been Faithful
If you had been faithful,
I would feature the face of dream,
I would lower and lift the silky lashes in
coyness,
I would settle you in the sugary rhythm
of palpitation,
I would get you inscribed
In the thick network of lines of my hand,
I would hide you in Bindia of my forehead,
I would reveal you the secret of
quivering ear-rings,
I would show you the bracelets on the
wrists I would make a trial of
my fate, You would
wipe colours of lips with a mischief,
122 The Alien Eyes
You would lift up the bridal-veil,
You would make me your own,
If you had been faithful.
A Devotee… (An Acrostic)
Fineness combined with all delicacies,
Affects both adamant hearts and minds,
Kneels and bows only before Almighty,
Humility, grace in perfect womanhood,
Incarnated love, sincerity, and fidelity,
Reward and gift to someone fortunate,
Admirable in lovely pose and posture.
Beauty that always reminds its Designer,
123 The Alien Eyes
Aroma much sweeter than fragrant
roses,
Tactful in dealing with impulsive beings,
Open-hearted and with capacious mind,
Orator who ever fought for woman
cause,
Lover and devotee of Five Sacred Beings.
Fakhira Batool
By: Muhammad
Shanazar
124 The Alien Eyes