CLIMATES

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 67; Page No. 100; 101






















The stories in the lip-bound silences are different.
The expressions of the sorrows of the heart are different.
__

In another climate grief was more tolerable,
But the events now burdening our lives are different.
__

O the walker upon loyalty’s road, keep your watch.
The obstacles strewed upon this stony trail are different.
__

There is no fear of separation, nor the wish for union.
The worries and the troubles of my maverick heart are different.
__

In the last leaf-shedding only flowers fell from twigs.
This year, the omens of the fall are different.
__

The world lacks the pluck to sense my ache to its depth.
Endow me with a melody for my cry that is different.
__

One disclosing glance has bared the issue of being.
Now the fields in the vista of my eyes are different.
__

There will be troops, nor flags. There is money, neither pomp.
The marks of the monarchs of the soil are different.
__

People do not die for their beloveds these days.
The denizens of youth in my youthful times were different.

_______________

THE FIRE

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 18; Page No. 38





















I have called at the front of massacre!
I have announced the voice of my heart!
__

Before, I had broken a gap in the door.
This time I‘ve shaken the foundation!
__

Such a tale I began at daybreak,
I have dimmed the lantern of day.
__

With sparks from the blaze of sorrow,
I have set my prison to flames.
__

The hands of the wind have wilted.
I have nourished the flowers on fire.
__

The Spark in the rose,
The Flare of the flute,

I have provoked all who burn.
__

The lost voice of forgotten eras

I have poured
In the bosom of the flute
__

Since the revelation of the Moon
I have roused the night tonight!

________________

THE SUMMER AND THE SIGN

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 10; Page No. 24, 25






















Flower, nor Wine, neither Cup;
There are no signs of the past in my hand.
__

The leisure of my hobby has chained me.
My caprice has no way left to fly now.
__

This bitter consciousness meets no remedy.
I am not intoxicated as much as I drink.
__

Hear it immersed in the depths of heart.
No song is indeed the song of glee.
__

Sorrow in every form unlocks the heart
But the gathering lacks the courage for the cries.
__

The breeze in the morn of pleasure says to me:
Flower is the Summer, not the Sign.
__

There are hues of my heart still tangled
That lie beyond the vicinity of voice.
__

Expanses of such deserts wait for me yet
Upon whom no camel-feet have left their mark.
__

These atmospheres of gloom wait to light up.
But your heart does not possess the igniting spark.
__

Nasir, your Heart is a mound of ash,
If it does not beat with the clang of an axe.

_______________

IN THE TREES

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 55; Page No. 84, 85

Last night, sleep embraced me in the trees.
There was a lullaby twirling among the trees.
__

The moon came out from the caves of the horizon.
A brush of fire painted the canopy of the trees.
__

As the rains fell, the toiling woodcutters
Lifted up their flutes weaving melodies in the trees.
__

Was it wind or an emerging gust of my own thought?
Who gives me a nameless call among the trees?
__

People grew restless in the safety of their houses;
While far away in the open, a storm disturbed the trees.
__

The call of the seasons invites my treading footstep
Into the depths of wonderful, unfamiliar trees.
__

What beings of other worlds inhabit the city’s far side.
Go and visit dwellings concealed among the trees.
__

Ochre gold, crimson, blue and opal white
I have seen the palette shades quivering among the trees.
__

The sad queen of perfume in the forest,
For nights I have encountered among the trees.
__

For long, the intenseness of those eager eyes
Kept up an air of radiance in the trees.
__

Suddenly, the illuminating shafts of light
Turned away from settlements to the wildness of the trees.
__

The denizens of the woods were frightened through the night.
There was Adam’s Son lurking among the trees.

______________

THE UNRAVELING

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 35; Page No. 57

















Your beauty so emerges in the couplets of my ghazal,
As an unveiling Bilquees in the courtyards of Soleyman’s.
__

Union and separation taste the same under your tyranny.
I cannot relish anymore the fruiting of forbearance.
__

I’ve entered such states in my rambles through the mountains
Where I was accompanied by the echo of a toiling axe.
__

The decorum of existence has required me to enter
The sphere of dry endeavor from the oasis of reflection.
__

The good is hand to hand with the bad every moment.
What a fervent field of battle have I entered!
__

Life used to gather light from their existence.
What beacons of brilliance have the cave of death entered!

_____________

RIVERIE

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 12; Page No. 28, 29

I remain lost in a reverie.
I am but like you.
__

O companion of the last spring,
This year I am alone.
__

In your lane, all day
I pick the pebbles of grief.
__

Who will hold my gaze?
I am but your mirror.
__

Who will light my lamp?
I am your emptied room.
__

Who but you shall wear me?
I am but your garment.
__

You… the street full of life
I am the path to jungles.
__

The coming season shall mourn me.
I am a breath of the dying one.
__

My wave and my grief to myself,
I am the river and I am deprived.

______________

THE SOOTHSAYER

Nasir Kazmi: Deewan: Ghazal No. 4; Page No. 17


Do not give your ear to what Nasir, the maverick, has to say
The stories that a madman tells, surely, are inconsequent
__

The treasures of Yesterday…today they crumble all to dust
What lies in the palms of your hands today, make full of it!
__

This verve will disperse. The blood will cool come tomorrow.
The swell of youth is quickly spent. Do not pine in waiting.
__

Who knows how the wind will set. The circumstance is full of risk.
Do not remain a lonely sheep. Come, move with us in the caravan.
__

With changed clothes, with groomed hair, where you go and for whom?
Look at the overwhelming dark. It’s not the night for rambling!

_________________