masjid-e qur:tubah
*stanza eight*

  ....  
1) in the valley of the foothills
the cloud is drowned in sunset
  
vaadii-e kuhsaar me;N ;Garq-e shafaq hai sa;haab
heaps of rubies of Badakhshan,
the sun has left behind		  
la((l-e bada;xshaa;N ke ;Dher chho;R gayaa aaftaab !
     
2) simple and full of burning is
the song of the farmer's daughter
  
saadah-o-pur-soz hai du;xtar-e dihqaa;N kaa giit
for the boat of the heart,
the season of youth is a flood		  
kishtii-e dil ke liye sail hai ((ahd-e shabaab !

= Conspicuously, the highly Persianized
du;xtar-e dihqaa;N is singing a very simple,
folksy, entirely Indic giit .

= Cf. the 'flood of time' imagery from 1:6
and 2:3.

    
     
3) great moving river!
on your shore someone
  
aab-e ravaan-e kabiir ! tere kinaare ko))ii
is seeing a dream
of some other time		  
dekh rahaa hai kisii aur zamaane kaa ;xvaab

= Cordoba is on the Guadalquivir
(itself derived from 'Vadi al-Kabir').

= Now the 'flood of time' imagery culminates
in the invocation of this 'great moving river'.

    
     
4) the new world is as yet
behind the veil of destiny
  
((aalam-e nau hai abhii pardah-e taqdiir me;N
in my sight
its dawn is unveiled		  
merii nigaaho;N me;N hai us kii sa;har be-;hijaab
   
5) if I would lift the veil
from the face of my thoughts
  
pardah u;Thaa duu;N agar chahrah-e afkaar se
the European will not be able
to bear the heat of my songs		  
laa nah sakegaa farang merii navaa))o;N kii taab
     
6) in which there would be no revolution--
that life is death
  
jis me;N nah ho inqilaab , maut hai vuh zindagii
the life of the spirit of the peoples--
the tug-of-war of revolution		  
ruu;h-e umum kii ;hayaat kashmakash-e inqilaab !
= inqilaab is not narrowly political, but has the
broader sense of 'change', a 'revolving' of the
wheel of time and fate.		    
     
7) [it] is like a sword in the hand
of destiny, that community
  
.suurat-e shamshiir hai dast-e qa.zaa me;N vuh qaum
that in every age keeps
an account of its deeds		  
kartii hai jo har zamaa;N apne ((amal kaa ;hisaab !
     
8) all forms are incomplete
without the blood of the liver
  
naqsh hai;N sab na-tamaam , ;xuun-e jigar ke ba;Gair
a song is half-baked madness,
without the blood of the liver		  
na;Gmah hai saudaa-e ;xaam , ;xuun-e jigar ke ba;Gair !
   

*Masjid-e Qurtubah index page*

 
 
 

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