Daughter Of Uncle (A Translation Of My Urdu Poem Binte Umm) Poem by Akhtar Jawad

Mahboob is my office colleague,
Mahboob means a beloved,
still a bachelor though thirty five,
truly speaking he deserves our pity,
to avoid the division of land,
five years ago when his aunt gave birth to a female child,
in fact gave birth to a woman to be crucified,
Binte Umm, daughter of uncle,
was married to him,
now Binte Umm is five years old!
What a word is Binte Umm,
An Arabic word that means daughter of uncle,
Widely used by Arabic Poets in the sense of beloved,
when she travelled in a litter carried on a camel,
surrounded by her warrior brothers,
somewhere at a distance a horse rider,
prays Oh Almighty! Send a blow of the naughty wind,
that shakes the curtains, as the poet shakes
the gown, of his shy beloved,
with his deep and cold sighs,
so that the thirst of eyes and the sand
may relax a little,
But the protectors don’t allow the cousin,
To come so close to her,
By now she is owned by her father,
as soon as the sweet year of her life appeared,
a flag was hoisted at her house,
to let everyone know,
a woman is now ready for sale,
Her trader cousin is engaged in earnings,
He has to pay the price of his cousin!
A woman in a feudal society,
Is born to be sold,
Some times in the market, as a sex worker,
Some times in her own sweet home, as a toy,
she is an item of luxury and lust!

But the story is different here,
Mahboob’s Binte Umm is only five years old,
she can go outside of the house,
sometimes alone too,
and when Mahboob lifts her up in his arms,
she says to him,
I want toffee, chocolate and balloons,
Please give all that to me,
Mahboob bows his head before his wife,
and prays for her,
Oh Almighty! Favor her with the sweet year as early as possible!
Though he knows it will take ten years at least,
and then the sweet year of the girl,
will arise naughtiness and lust in her,
and when Mahboob will be forty five,
and will lose all his romance,
she will come as a bride to him.
Meanwhile Mahboob will find a gal
from a poor family at Karachi,
The bride from Karchi will be called by us,
A Lady of Flat!
Yes, Mahboob is son of a landlord,
He can purchase a flat here at Karachi!