Today I received some great ideas (for future blogging) from two sources: First I got an e-mail from a friend, and she had 9 suggestions (but really 34 suggestions, because one of the 9 suggestions has 26 parts, one for each letter of the alphabet); then my workshop group pointed out (among other things) that, in each entry, I could simply talk about one poem I like. I am pretty much set for the semester :)
One of my friend's 9 suggestions was to write a whole entry in an Indian language :) I won't quite go that far, but here's an Urdu Ghazal in transliteration (so I'm really using both sets of suggestions today):
kyaa maiN bhi pareshaaniy-e Khaatir se qariiN thaa
aaNkheN to kahiiN thiiN dil-e Gham diida kahiiN thaa
kis raat nazar kii hai suv-e chashmak-e anjum
aaNkhoN ke tale apne to vuh maah jabiiN thaa
aayaa to sahii vuh ko'i dam ke liye lekin
hoNThoN pa mire jab nafas-e baaz pasiiN thaa
ab koft se hijraaN ki jahaaN tan pa rakhaa haath
jo dard o alam thaa so kahe tuu k vuhiiN thaa
jaanaa nahiiN kuchh juz Ghazal aa kar ke jahaaN meN
kul mere tasarruf meN yihii qat'a zamiiN thaa
naam aaj ko'ii yaaN nahiN letaa hai unhoN kaa
jin logoN ke kal mulk yih sab zer-e nagiiN thaa
masjid meN imaam aaj huvaa aa ke vuhaaN se
kal tak to yihii :Miir: Kharaabaat nishiiN thaa
Click on the highlighted distichs to see detailed explications, and here is some information about the poet Miir (yes, convention dictates that the poet should include his (pen-)name in the final distich).
Here are much less detailed (and very approximate) English glosses of the remaining distichs:
3.
ayaa to sahii vuh ko'i dam ke liye lekin
hoNThoN pa mire jab nafas-e baaz pasiiN thaa
At least he/she came for a moment, but
when the breath on my lips was departing
There is wordplay here: "dam", which I have glossed as "moment", also means "breath".
6.
naam aaj ko'ii yaaN nahiN letaa hai unhoN kaa
jin logoN ke kal mulk yih sab zer-e nagiiN thaa
Today no one here utters the names of those
under whose signets this entire realm was yesterday
7.
masjid meN imaam aaj huvaa aa ke vuhaaN se
kal tak to yihii :Miir: Kharaabaat nishiiN thaa
He has come from there and become a priest in the mosque today
Up until yesterday, this very "Miir" was sitting in a wine tavern
It's almost midnight, so I'll have to post this entry now :( The next time I do a poem, I'm actually going to discuss it (as opposed to just posting its text).
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