She watched day-colours pour from the sky.
She watched night dreams go soaring high.
Her palms could hold a kilo of golden wheat.
Her arms could ring such manly bodies.
Mother , see how wretched we are,
your mere shadows. Our breaths come
heavy with disease. Crops are blighted
where our shadows fall -- only wounds grow.
Mother, you raised us in your arms,
but how are we to gain your virtues?
How can we change our sins into beauty?

Anti-clockwise

Even if my eyes become the soles of your feet
even so, the fear will not leave you
that though I cannot see
I can feel bodies and sentences
like a fragrance.

Even if , for my own safety
I rub my nose in the dirt till it becomes invisible
even so, this fear will not leave you
that though I cannot smell
I can still say something.

Even if my lips, singing praises of your godlines
become dry and soulless
even so, this fear will not leave you
that though I cannot speak
I can still walk.

Even after you have tied the chains of domesticity
shame and modesty around my feet
even after you have paralysed me
this fear will not leave you
that even though I cannot walk
I can still think.

Your fear
of being free, being alive
and able to think
might lead you , who knows into what travails.

- translated from Urdu by Rukhsana Ahmed

 

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