Lightness

"It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. I was so preposterously serious in those days… Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me…So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling…"
Aldous Huxley - Island

I Live My Life In Widening Circles

I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.

I may not complete this last one

but I will give myself to it.

 

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.

I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?

--by Rainer Maria Rilke

Alone With Everybody

the flesh covers the bone
and they put a mind
in there and
sometimes a soul,
and the women break
vases against the walls
and the men drink too
much
and nobody finds the
one
but keep
looking
crawling in and out
of beds.
flesh covers
the bone and the
flesh searches
for more than
flesh.

there’s no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.

nobody ever finds
the one.

the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill

nothing else
fills.

- Charles Bukowski

Lust Story

'I don't want a relationship
I don't want love, love is too neat
I want lust, I want to be the one
you cheat with, the one you hate
but can't will yourself away from.'

Pani

Main pani hoon Mujhe Behne do

Mujhe Apne tak pahunchne do

Tumhare kheto Ki Mitti sookhi padi hai

Use Do ghunt Jeevan Ke gatakne Do

 Mujhe Apne Tak pahunch Ne do

Pyasi Nigahen, kaaley pade honth

dukhti Hui Kamar aur Pairo Mein chhale

 Unhein mat itna chalne do

 Mujhe Apne Tak pahunch Ne do

 main haq Hoon Tumhara, 

sirf zaroorat nahin

 Mujhey Baraabar ka batne do

Apne tak pahunchne do

Ek Gazab Ka shor Hai Mere andar

 Mujhe zor se barasne do

Mujhe Apne Tak pahunchNe do

 main pani hoon mujhe behne do

On a Quiet Day...

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget… another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing." Arundhati Roy

Kalam e Faiz

Hum parwarish-e-lauh-o-qalam karte rahenge
Jo dil pe guzarti hai raqam karte rahenge

We will continue to nurture the pen and ink,
Continue to write about the travails of the heart

Asbaab-e-gham-e-ishq baham karte rahenge
Viraani-e-dauraan pe karam karte rahenge

Continue to bear the cause of the anguish of love
Continue to be kind to these desolate times

Haan talkhi-e-ayyaam abhi aur barhe gi
Haan ahl-e-sitam mashq-e-sitam karte rahenge

I know the bitterness of time is yet to increase
I know tyrants will continue their acts of tyranny

Manzur yeh talkhi yeh sitam hum ko gawaara
Dam hai to madaawa-e-alam karte rahenge

We accept this bitterness, even this tyranny we will bear
But till our last breath we will not stop caring for this world

Maikhana salaamat hai to hum surkhi-e-mai se
Tazzain-e-dar-o-baam-e-haram karte rahenge

Till the tavern exists we will use the red wine
To paint the walls and terraces of our sanctuary

Baqi hai lahu dil mein to har ashk se paida
Rang-e-lab-o-rukhsar-e-sanam karte rahenge

Till there is blood in our hearts with each each tear
Will we colour the lips and cheeks of our beloved

Ek tarz-e-taghaaful hai so woh unko mubaarak
Ek arz-e-tamanna hai so hum karte rahenge

They are welcome to their attitude of callousness
We will continue to express that which our hearts desire

- Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translation by Dr. Taimur Rahman