Woman
1 was suddenly enthralled,
It was love at first sight;
That day her entire person was clear as the sky,
The spheres of her rounded eyes radiated like glass
In the broad portion of her forehead.
(thanked my good luck.
Whoever possesses that woman
Will win a battle,
Whoever kisses her lips
Will speak the truth forever,
And go a long way against the stream,
Resting in her lap like a boat
Coveted like the crown of a queen.
Holding her half-ripped mango breasts
Within one’s cupped palms
He’ll feel as if he has possessed
Two-thirds of the waters of the world,
The rest will stir the whole of his body
Deep as the sea;
He who will go to bed with her
Will tireless be for a long time,
Perpetual desire will melt
Into the flesh and bone,
The green valley of her face
Will be purified with kisses.
I want to involve that woman
In all the journeys of my youth.
A woman is nice i darkness,
She’s more so in the neon-light;
A woman is like a moonlit night.
I know no one except that woman
Neither love nor war—
Nothing of this jubilant city,
O woman, where have you been all my youth?
Magic wands move incessantly
In the lap of the earth,
A monster touches our cold body;
I’ll lead an expedition
And wake this sleeping beauty,
Possessing that woman I’ll be a hero,
I’ll win a war.
Ants
Swarms of workers join the procession
With farmers leading it ahead,
The slum dwellers raise their voice
For a secured home, a shelter from bare wintry nights.
Its a strange time
When a worker could find respite only on strike days,
When production only means the rising of prices,
When foods and clothes are mere dreams
Yes the owner’s secret vault swelling up with illegal savings.
Avoiding the crowd, everyone lets his imagination fly:
They measure the procession and their own happiness too.
With a self-complacence they look down upon those poor faces.
Not knowing that ants can eliminate a living fly,
And rotten snail can cut a deep scar.
[1] Syed Haider (b. 1950). First publication Kono Sukhabar Nei