Answer

After Halabja* suffocated,
I wrote a long complaint to God
Before everyone,
I read it to a tree.
The tree cried.

From one side, a bird, a postman,
Said, “All right, who will deliver it?
If you are expecting me to take it,
I won’t reach Gods throne.

Late that night,
My angelic poem, dressed for mourning,
Said, “Don’t worry.

I will take it to the heights
Of the atmosphere.
But I won’t promise

He will take the letter Himself.
You know, the Great God
Who can see Him?

I said, “Thank you. Fly.”
My angelic inspiration flew
With my complaint.

The next day, it was returned.
God’s fourth secretary down,
A man by the name of Obaid,
At the bottom

Of the very same complaint,
Wrote to me in Arabic:
“Idiot, make it Arabic.

People here don’t know Kurdish.
They won’t take it to God.”

--- Sherko Bekas

translated by Alana Marie Levinson-LaBrosse & Halo Fariq

*Translator’s note: On March 16, 1988, as part of Anfal, Saddam Hussein’s military campaign against the Kurds of Iraq, Halabja withstood a chemical-weapons attack. The largest directed against a civilian population in history, it has been recognized as an act of genocide by the Iraqi High Criminal Court.

Veil (1941)

I heard a girl's lament - yesterday she howled 
Like a prisoner and so passionate, it melted the heart

Such voice and shape no one has heard or seen before
she tore at the depths of the heart's old scab

She said: This veil has not only covered our face, 
Against us, no rights, forgotten names

Never have we had a day when we freely demanded our right
for our own fate, gone to the battlefield

From beginning to end, this black veil was wrong 
It became our obstacle, disabled us from entering the community of men

Pull it off, please tear it away, throw it into the furnace of fire
It's a pity that at the light of day, you drag yourselves down into the darkness of night

The oppression of these traitors, it left no just judgement
They put our sex under the spell of men's pleas

Why did our lot become a shroud, both in life and in judgement?
Here black, there white, it’s sewn unto our bodies 

Want to know, ask your elders, those who came before you
Who ever saw veil over Kurdistan's woman’s face

When did the veil become a symbol of the virtue of the tender body?
the heart is the arrow of the denier of God, who take no responsibility over faith

Tare it off, put it among you and surround it 
I hope to see it with my own eyes, with my wandering soul

Take it away please, throw it away, throw it into the furnace of fire
It is a pity that at the light of day, you drag yourselves down into the darkness of night

Let a circle gather round it, say farewell to it 
Let its name go with this April flood

Put it in a coffin, let it be carried over the shoulders of longing 
Put it in a grave, on top of the ‘Saywan’ hill

Forgive us, O God - to bury it is not right
Put it in a deep hole, over the hill of ‘Gawran’

Arrange a sad memorial, where each of you
come to his ceremony, with joy and smiling lips

Don't believe that this lament is "Nuri's" idea, nor his poem
It belongs to the girl with a beautiful voice, who said it with tears in her eyes

Take it away please, throw it away, throw it in the furnace of fire
It's a pity that the light of day, you drag yourselves into the darkness of night

--- Nuri Sheikh Salih Sheikh Ghani Barzinji

You know that you are a human

You know that you are a human.
You know that, or do you not?
That smile of yours is unique to you,
That torment of yours is unique to you,
Your eyes no other person has got.

Tomorrow you won't be here present. 

Tomorrow on this blessed land 

Others'll be running and laughing, 

Others'll be feeling and loving; 

Good people and bad ones, my friend.

Today all the world is for you: 

Forests and hills, valleys deep. 

So hurry to live, please, hurry! 

So hurry to love, please, hurry! 

Don't miss out on it, don't oversleep!

'Cause you on this Earth are a human. 

And whether you want it or not, 

That smile of yours is unique to you, 

That torment of yours is unique to you, 

Your eyes no other person has got.

- Vasyl Symonenko (translated by Kyrylo Snizhko)

The Shadows of the Walk

 As much as I can

 I humour the shadows

 But when they narrow

 They are no longer mine

 And when they widen

 They're wrapped in the impossible.

 Yet, not to get lost

 I dip my feet in water

 Wet the path

 And slide.

--- Michael Iskandar Haddad (1919 - 1996) 

अकबर इलाहाबादी और सर सैयद: व्यंग्य और सामाजिक सुधार की शायरी

अकबर इलाहाबादी केवल आलोचक नहीं थे; वे सर सैयद के सामाजिक सुधारों के समर्थक भी थे। उनके दृष्टिकोण में सर सैयद के प्रयासों का सम्मान था, लेकिन कुछ बातें उनके तरीक़े और शैली में उन्हें कमज़ोर या असंगत प्रतीत होती थीं। यही संतुलित दृष्टि इलाहाबादी की शायरी में झलकती है। यहाँ कुछ उद्धृत शेर और उनका विश्लेषण प्रस्तुत है:

शेर 1: ईमान बेचने को तो तैयार हैं हम भी, लेकिन, खरीद हो जो अलीगढ़ के भाव से।

व्याख्या: यहाँ इलाहाबादी व्यंग्य करते हैं कि लोग तो ईमान भी बेच सकते हैं, पर यदि इसे अलीगढ़ (जहाँ सर सैयद ने आधुनिक शिक्षा को बढ़ावा दिया) के तर्ज़ पर खरीदा जाए, तभी यह स्वीकार्य होगा। यह हल्का-फुल्का व्यंग्य अलीगढ़ मूवमेंट पर है।

शेर 2: हजार शेख ने डाढ़ी बढ़ाई सन की – सी, मगर, वो बात कहाँ मालवी मदन की – सी।

व्याख्या: इस शेर में इलाहाबादी कहते हैं कि लाखों लोगों ने बाहरी रूप (जैसे दाढ़ी बढ़ाना) अपनाया, लेकिन असली असर वही नहीं हुआ जो मालवी मदन या असली दृष्टिकोण वाला व्यक्ति दर्शाता। यह शेर दिखावे और वास्तविकता के बीच अंतर को उजागर करता है।

शेर 3: तालीम–ए दुस्तुराँ से ये उम्मीद है ज़रा, नाचे दुल्हन ख़ुशी से ख़ुद अपनी बरात में।

व्याख्या: यह शेर शिक्षा और सुधार की उम्मीदों पर व्यंग्य करता है। इलाहाबादी कहते हैं कि शिक्षा का लक्ष्य सिर्फ़ दिखावा न बन जाए, बल्कि उसका असर वास्तविक जीवन में महसूस होना चाहिए।

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अकबर इलाहाबादी की शायरी यह दिखाती है कि आलोचना हमेशा विरोध नहीं होती, बल्कि यह सुधार और सुधारकों के दृष्टिकोण को समझने और परखने का माध्यम भी हो सकती है। उनकी शेरों में व्यंग्य, सामाजिक टिप्पणियाँ और गहरी समझ का सुंदर मिश्रण मिलता है।