An English Ghazal By Mona Arshi In Hindi/Urdu Translation Poem by Ravi Kopra

hamari aankhaiN bhi apni nahin hoti hain...

- Frederico Garcia Lorca, The House of Bernarda Alba


main paani k bhoraiN k saath lawey lagana chahti hoon
vo kaisay paani pe adaab rakhta hai jaan-na chahti hoon

main lafaz ikadhay kar dabbav main rakhna chahti hoon
un ka pardeshi-pan rakh, bailoN pe pakana chahti hoon

tere laakhon cHotay dabaav paDtay hain muj pe
dya karo, main ye barsaat ko kehna chahti hoon

main gulab ya tulip ka phool bun kar wapis na aana chati hoon
lakin lutf bhari raatoN main ugna chahti hoon

main tumharay haath ki lakeer k neechay juD kar rehna chahti hoon
main cHaya main tere sath chamakna chati hoon

khuda ki ungliaN toot jaaiN jab main aasteen oopar uthaaooN
tum ko main apni doodh jaisi kalaaee saaf saaf dikhana chahti hoon.

***

GHAZAL
Not even our eyes are our own...

- Frederico Garcia Lorca, The House of Bernarda Alba


I want to tune in to the surface, beside the mayfly
listen to how she holds her decorum on the skin of the pond.

I want to sequester words, hold them in stress positions,
foreignate them, string them up to ripen on vines

and I want to commune with rain and for the rain
to be merciful, a million tiny pressures on my flesh.

I refuse to return as either rose or tulip but wish
to be planted under the desiring night sky.

I want to be concentrated to a line under the pleat of your palm
and for it to radiate opalesque under shadow.

I want God's fingers to break and for you to watch
as I fold my sleeve, reveal each detail of my paling wrist.

-Mona Arshi