To the Bazaar Today

Chashm-e Nam, Jan-e Shoreeda kafi nahin
Thumat-e Ishq poshida kafi nahin,
Aaj bazaar mein pabajolan chalo

Dast afshan chalo, Mast o Raqsaan chalo
Khaq bar sar chalo, khon bad-aman chalo
Rah takta ha sab Shahr-e Janaan chalo

Hakim-e Shaher bhi, Mujmaa-e Aam bhi,
Teer-i Ilzam bhi, Sang-e Dushnam bhi,
Subh nashaad bhi, Roz-i nakam bhi
Un ka dam saz apnay siva kon hai
Shehr-e Janaan mein ab ba-Sufa kon hai,
Dast-Katil kay shaiyan raha kon hai

Rakht-i dil bandh lo, dil fogaro chalo
Phir hamien Katl ho aiyn, Yaro Chalo

- Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 1959 (written in the Lahore Jail)


A dampened eye, a wasted life: nothing,
Accusations of a hidden love: nothing,
To the bazaar today in chains let us go.
Palms waving let us go; wildly dancing let us go,
Dusty haired let us go; blood spattered let us go,
As the City of Lovers watches, down the road let us go.

The princes of the keep and the common crowding folk,
The shafts of accusation and the hurled stones of rebuke,
The gloom of a dire morning and the failing of a dismal day,
Who among them is alive, but us?
Who among them is innocent, but us?
Who will honour the bloody blade, but us?

Ye brokenhearted make ready, let us go,
Yet again to death, dear friends let us go.



Satyagraha!