"diwan" poems
Perhaps
by Momin Khan Momin
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The cohesiveness between us, you may remember, or perhaps not.
Our solemn oaths of faithfulness, you may remember, or perhaps forgot.
If something happened that was not to your liking,
the shrinking away that produces silence, you may remember, or perhaps not.
Listen, the sagas of so many years, the promises you made amid time's onslaught,
which you now fail to mention, you may remember, or perhaps not.
These new resentments, those old rehashed complaints,
these lighthearted and displeasing stories, you may remember, or perhaps forgot.
Some seasons ago we shared love and desire, we shared joy ...
That we once were dear friends, you may have, perhaps, forgot.
Now if we come together, by fate or by chance, to express old loyalties ...
Our every shared breath, all our sighs and regrets, you may remember, or perhaps not.
Being
by Momin Khan Momin
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You are so close to me
that no one else ever can be.
NOTE: There is a legend that the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib offered all his diwan (poetry collections) in exchange for this one sher (couplet) by Momin Khan Momin. Does the couplet mean "be as close" or "be, at all"? Does it mean "You are with me in a way that no one else can ever be?" Or does it mean that no one else can ever exist as truly as one's true love? Or does this sher contain an infinite number of elusive meanings, like love itself?
Being (II)
by Momin Khan Momin
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You alone are with me when I am alone.
You are beside me when I am beside myself.
You are as close to me as everyone else is afar.
You are so close to me that no one else ever can be.
Keywords/Tags: Translation, Urdu, Momin Khan Momin, love, close, closeness, unity, farness, afar, memory, remembrance, forgetfulness, remember, forget, forgot, time, silence, mrburdu
May 1, 2020
May 1, 2020 at 5:53 AM UTC
AS IT IS
Life that we know, is not, as we think it is
In the present we miss at times, both
what could have been and what will be
as from the drawers of our lives we
pull out and savour memories while
riding the illusion of replacing time
but sometimes forgetting that the past
drawn to the present will not sustain
and eventually recede to allow for the
flow of time future to find it’s age, and
life will remain a short tenancy with
a changing lease that time witnesses
without interference at every birth
and in the process we learn a few true
things as time tells your mind’s despair ----
why lament, life’s canvas was empty
at birth and will return to it’s state
when you leave, as you brought nothing
and will take nothing, but will leave
behind your life’s colours on my being
to hold for posterity, as divined in time.
SUDHIR DIWAN
Dec 14, 2018
Dec 14, 2018 at 1:17 AM UTC
BEING BROWN
My color does not rub off
on any one, said the brown
to the white, nor does it pale
on being exposed to you
we could share the same spa, the water will not change color
Don’t turn your face, your
back speaks the same language
as your steps echo the thoughts
laid bare, I may not react but
leave, turn back, with my body
dripping drops of abject dismay
You become the looking glass, denying
me my reflection, as in life everything
is a cause and effect, as are we, of the
same cause, two different effects, just
the same causes presented differently,
such is the way of our known world
Each time distaste is displayed, the
belief rises from layers of your past
to rèflect on your being - though
the scriptures prohibit, convenience
beckons and provides the blinkers
in this sequestered life of choosing
* ‘Tat tvam asi’ – you are what
you are – and I am the beautiful
me, without bleach and beyond the
veil – and, are we not all travelers
in search of the truth from the finite
to the infinite, in our equal existence
You do not get everything you
desire, since your life is chained to
your **karma – your choices form
your destiny – not always in
black and white but often displayed
in many shades, mostly in between
We are a part of the form and the
formless, You can hurt the brown in
the form not in the Formless, so do
not judge - as you will be carrying
The baggage of a your fears in your
form searching the formless in time
In dreams that shelter hope, you
live, with goals that were never
complete - despite the faith or the
lack of it - as they ignored much of
the colour around – do your worst,
as the best in me, is yet to come
We will all be probably born again,
when the colours of this life change
our present life may dictate the next
as the past catches up in time, and
perhaps, we will meet once again,
when I am white and you brown
SUDHIR DIWAN 54 lines
Vedic literature
* ‘Tat tvam asi’ - you are what you are
and
**‘Karma’ – your good or bad deeds
Dec 14, 2018
Dec 14, 2018 at 1:25 AM UTC