[1442] Let Me Think

Guest poem sent in by Radhika Gowaikar <gowaikar@>

You ask me about that country whose details now escape me,
I don't remember its geography, nothing of its history.
And should I visit it in memory,
It would be as I would a past lover,
After years, for a night, no longer restless with passion,
With no fear of regret.
I have reached that age when one visits the heart merely as a courtesy.

	-- Faiz Ahmed Faiz

I came across this while browsing the Poetry in Motion site.
http://www.poetrysociety.org/postcard.html

Depending on the reader's mood this poem can be taken to be about many
things -- one's motherland, one's past lives and, indeed, one's past
loves. The overriding theme of time eroding every landscape holds for them
all.

Reading (poetry) is, to a large extent, about seeing one's own self -- the
way it is at that moment in time -- in a mirror provided by the writer
(/poet). I rather like this particular mirror.

radhika.

Links:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,844795,00.html is a very
interesting article by Rushdie which has a lot about Faiz and other
things.

http://www.dawn.com/2000/06/04/nat10.htm is also nice


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From: Sashidhar Dandamudi <sashi@>

Thanks you Radhika, for sending in and Martin, for then disseminating, 
this excellent gem. 

However as someone who fumbles with translation himself, I think we need
to mention the name of translator. And based on the style, I am
guessing it is Agha Shahid Ali. 

Perhaps Radhika can confirm this.

Sashi

From: Chetan Mahendra <chetan.mahendra@>

Yes Sashi, you're absolutely right. Moreover, I think Radhika missed
the last line of the translation. The piece translated from the Urdu
version "Sochnay Do" by Agha Shahid Ali, is an excerpt from "The
Rebel's Silhouette" which reads:

You ask me about that country
whose details now escape me.
I don't remember its geography,
nothing of its history.
And should I visit in memory,
it would be as I would a past lover,
after years, for a night,
no longer restless with passion, with no fear of regret.
I have reached that age
when one visits the heart merely as courtesy,
the way one keeps in touch. 

Regards,
Chetan

-- 
======================We are punished not for our sins, but by our sins. (Dhammapada)