saadat tahir - Across The Graveyard, A Wind Flays

(baad'e samoom... wo tazeeana ik lehad ka …urdu)

Just wanted to buy Aasma a doll!
If possible for Haider a plastic ball!
from village back'ome, I shied a call.
Heer so wants a colorful shawl.

Suffering days for a better deal.
Barely keep life on an even keel.
Gave up wishing for lamb or veal.
Hardly the bills or our meters seal.

Pennies we cough through our nose,
blossom on our rags as bloody rose.
Who will be willing for asking those,
who bleed us white and hunker close.

Maan's in hospital so many days,
I slog the corridors! Weary ways!
Across the graveyard a wind now flays,
by the mound where Father lays,

That everyday I trudge teary eyed.
Wandering! Why? My life has lied.
With my desires my heart too died,
to a desolate breath it still is tied.


Notes:
Aasma…common Pakistani name for girls.
Haider… common Pakistani name for boys.
Heer … proverbial folk lore name for a young lady.
Maan … common noun, mother…here Motherland.
Father… common noun, here Quaid e Azam…father of the nation.

(baad'e samoom... wo tazeeana ik lehad ka …)
Urdu translation of the title.

saadat tahir

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