mischievous eyes, and the heart’s flirty glance
What has beauty understood, and what secrets has love known?
That the world is a captive of us dust-dwellers alone
His 1 beauty and grace against my love and youth collide
I want to live but truly it were better that I died
Was she unhappy with me, or was I upset with her?
The last time she was ascendant; this time is mine for sure
In the smile of teary eyes and in the rhythm of sighs
An innocent saga of innocent love, here it lies
It is not that easy to love, think before you desire
Do you have the gumption to swim across a sea of fire?
I have many tears in my eyes, what will become of them?
Either they’ll be lost or, Jigar, they’ll become pearls and gems.
Firaaq Gorakhpuri
Raghupati Sahay Firaaq Gorakhpuri (1896–1982) was one of the most prolific poets of his time. A professor of English at Allahabad University, he achieved the status of an organic intellectual, infusing his work with sensuality, and writing spiritedly in support of alternative sexualities in an atmosphere of heteronormativity. His 1936 article in defence of homosexual love and its depiction in the ghazal remains a classic, where he defiantly describes the depiction of homosexuality in poetry across time and cultures in the works of Sappho and Socrates, Saadi and Hafiz, Shakespeare and Whitman. 1 His well-known ghazal on forbidden and furtive love begins thus: ‘
Zara visaal ke baad aaina to dekh ai dost, / Tere Jamaal ki dosheezagi nazar aayi
’ (‘Look in the mirror after our union, friend / How your beauty has acquired a virgin innocence’).
A fierce polemicist and a character who did not need
any assistance in blowing his own trumpet, Firaaq wrote:
‘
Aane wali naslein tum par rashk karegi, hum-asro / Jab tum un se kahoge ye, hum ne Firaaq ko dekha thha
’ (‘Future generations will envy you, my dear peers / When you say unto them, I had seen Firaaq’). Firaaq was also a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association, a spirited anti-colonialist, and enjoyed the confidence of Nehru and other early Congress functionaries.
His works appear in a number of anthologies, most published in the 1940s (the best known are
Shola-e Saaz
[The Fire of Rhythm], 1945, and
Shabnamistan
[Land of Dew], 1947). His essays were compiled in a book titled
Andaze
(Hunches). Firaaq won the Jnanpith Award (India’s highest literary honour) in 1969, and remained the only Urdu poet Jnanpith awardee until Ali Sardar Jafri won it in 1997. Newcomers may have first encountered Firaaq’s poetry through Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh’s rendition of ‘
Bahut pehle se un qadmon ki aahat jaan lete hain
’ (We recognize those footsteps from a long way off), which they sang in the 1976 album
Unforgettables
.
I have chosen to translate just one of Firaaq’s ghazals that, I feel, conjures a vivid sense of this remarkable poet.
Shaam-e gham
Shaam-e gham kuchh us nigaah-e naaz ki baaten karo
Bekhudi badhti chali hai, raaz ki baaten karo
Nikhat-e zulf-e pareshaan, daastaan-e shaam-e gham
Subah hone tak isi andaz ki baaten karo
Ye sukoot-e yaas, ye dil ki ragon ka tootna
Khamoshi mein kuchh shikast-e saaz ki baaten karo
Kuchh qafas ki teeliyon se chhan rahaa hai noor sa
Kuchh fazaa kuchh hasrat-e parvaaz ki baatein karo
Jis ki furqat ne palat di ishq ki kaaya, Firaaq
Aaj usi Eesaa-nafas dum-saaz ki baaten karo
Sad evening
On this sad evening let us talk of the beloved’s gaze
Let us talk of secret things for my passion is ablaze
The beauty of those tossed curls and the tale of this sad night
Till morning dawns, let us talk in such melancholic ways
In the silence of yearning, as hearts shatter, let us speak
How does it break, the instrument that such melodies plays?
From the bars of my prison, I feel a faint hint of light
Of my desire to spread my wings, let’s talk about that phase
The one who has transformed the nature of my love, Firaaq
Let’s talk of that Jesus-like lover who lights up
What has beauty understood, and what secrets has love known?
That the world is a captive of us dust-dwellers alone
His 1 beauty and grace against my love and youth collide
I want to live but truly it were better that I died
Was she unhappy with me, or was I upset with her?
The last time she was ascendant; this time is mine for sure
In the smile of teary eyes and in the rhythm of sighs
An innocent saga of innocent love, here it lies
It is not that easy to love, think before you desire
Do you have the gumption to swim across a sea of fire?
I have many tears in my eyes, what will become of them?
Either they’ll be lost or, Jigar, they’ll become pearls and gems.
Firaaq Gorakhpuri
Raghupati Sahay Firaaq Gorakhpuri (1896–1982) was one of the most prolific poets of his time. A professor of English at Allahabad University, he achieved the status of an organic intellectual, infusing his work with sensuality, and writing spiritedly in support of alternative sexualities in an atmosphere of heteronormativity. His 1936 article in defence of homosexual love and its depiction in the ghazal remains a classic, where he defiantly describes the depiction of homosexuality in poetry across time and cultures in the works of Sappho and Socrates, Saadi and Hafiz, Shakespeare and Whitman. 1 His well-known ghazal on forbidden and furtive love begins thus: ‘
Zara visaal ke baad aaina to dekh ai dost, / Tere Jamaal ki dosheezagi nazar aayi
’ (‘Look in the mirror after our union, friend / How your beauty has acquired a virgin innocence’).
A fierce polemicist and a character who did not need
any assistance in blowing his own trumpet, Firaaq wrote:
‘
Aane wali naslein tum par rashk karegi, hum-asro / Jab tum un se kahoge ye, hum ne Firaaq ko dekha thha
’ (‘Future generations will envy you, my dear peers / When you say unto them, I had seen Firaaq’). Firaaq was also a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association, a spirited anti-colonialist, and enjoyed the confidence of Nehru and other early Congress functionaries.
His works appear in a number of anthologies, most published in the 1940s (the best known are
Shola-e Saaz
[The Fire of Rhythm], 1945, and
Shabnamistan
[Land of Dew], 1947). His essays were compiled in a book titled
Andaze
(Hunches). Firaaq won the Jnanpith Award (India’s highest literary honour) in 1969, and remained the only Urdu poet Jnanpith awardee until Ali Sardar Jafri won it in 1997. Newcomers may have first encountered Firaaq’s poetry through Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh’s rendition of ‘
Bahut pehle se un qadmon ki aahat jaan lete hain
’ (We recognize those footsteps from a long way off), which they sang in the 1976 album
Unforgettables
.
I have chosen to translate just one of Firaaq’s ghazals that, I feel, conjures a vivid sense of this remarkable poet.
Shaam-e gham
Shaam-e gham kuchh us nigaah-e naaz ki baaten karo
Bekhudi badhti chali hai, raaz ki baaten karo
Nikhat-e zulf-e pareshaan, daastaan-e shaam-e gham
Subah hone tak isi andaz ki baaten karo
Ye sukoot-e yaas, ye dil ki ragon ka tootna
Khamoshi mein kuchh shikast-e saaz ki baaten karo
Kuchh qafas ki teeliyon se chhan rahaa hai noor sa
Kuchh fazaa kuchh hasrat-e parvaaz ki baatein karo
Jis ki furqat ne palat di ishq ki kaaya, Firaaq
Aaj usi Eesaa-nafas dum-saaz ki baaten karo
Sad evening
On this sad evening let us talk of the beloved’s gaze
Let us talk of secret things for my passion is ablaze
The beauty of those tossed curls and the tale of this sad night
Till morning dawns, let us talk in such melancholic ways
In the silence of yearning, as hearts shatter, let us speak
How does it break, the instrument that such melodies plays?
From the bars of my prison, I feel a faint hint of light
Of my desire to spread my wings, let’s talk about that phase
The one who has transformed the nature of my love, Firaaq
Let’s talk of that Jesus-like lover who lights up
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