English

 

SHATTERED GLASS

 

Who would refute me now

If I say this,

 

All night

A draconian monster

Was roaming and roaring in the empty streets,

Fearlessly.

 

His cries like spears - like pointed flames penetrating cracks of the doors - were approaching me,

Were falling after smashing my dilated pupils and yellow face,

Where my feet stood like columns.

My body was still...

 

Soon, in front of my eyes,

That scary demon

Shook off the sheet of night.

A deafening chink!

In a flash, thousands of glittering galaxies fell.

Stars - broken, floating.

Milky light slithered in the dust.

 

When the city woke the next day,

Nobody was aware of last night’s anecdote

Yes, but who would refute me now ...

My dilated pupils have multiple scars ...

My hands are scrunched around shattered glass ...

 

 

Translated from Urdu by Rizwan Ali

 

Dr. Rizwan Ali is a psychiatrist practicing in Virginia, USA for the last 20 years. He is the founder and administrator of a renowned literary platform called “Literary Forum of North America”. Along with translations he has been published as a poet in several reputable literary journals.

 

 

PARALLEL UNIVERSE

 

I am here,

But I am present somewhere else too.

In another world,

Like a fading spot

Holding the front-end of passing moment,

Or beating in the heart of the time past,

Connecting the torn bits and pieces of dreams and slumber.

A strange world pears behind the closed eyes

Everything around me is so different here

The moment has been passing many times and had passed by me before too

But where and how,

I just cannot recall

So many mysterious worlds float in the melodious flow of waters

Transforming colorful eras

Or maybe,

It is likely as well,

That every drop in this ocean of existence is frozen

Not a single moment slides off the falling platter of life

And so, I am here now

And I am somewhere else too.

Falling from the scions of a yellowing season

Stumbling on unfamiliar pathways of another world,

Staggering, stabilizing,

Deep in an unknown tangled thought

Crossing your path

Walking in front of you...

 

 

 

Translated from Urdu by Abid Raza

Abid Raza is a USA based writer of Pakistani origin, he writes mostly in Urdu but recently he has been translating some notable Urdu poems into English language.