Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Khoon phir khoon hai

From: Aparajita Tripathi
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 12:38
To: Shrikant Sundaram
Subject: Khoon phir khoon hai

khoon phir khoon hai

February 22nd, 2008 Sahir Ludhianvi wrote this nazm on the slain Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, the first prime-minister of Congo and also a staunch anti-imperialist. He was deposed from the office and murdered. A really good poet and someone who is very dear to me and has taught me a lot about Urdu Poetry, said he heard Sahir recite this nazm in a live mushaira in Chandigarh in 67-68 or 68-69 and continued that once he heard the second line of the nazm, he was so amazed at the depth of the line that he could not hear the rest of the nazm and he kept thinking about that second line “Khoon phir khoon hai, Tapkega to jam jaayega”.

zulm phir zulm hai, baRhta hai to miT jaataa hai

Khoon phir Khoon hai, Tapkega to jam jaayega

Khaak-e-sehra pe jame yaa kaf-e-qaatil pe jame

farq-e-insaaf pe yaa paa-e-salaasal pe jame

teGh-e-bedaad pe yaa laasha-e-bismil pe jame

Khoon phir Khoon hai Tapkega to jam jaayega

laakh baiThe koi chhup chhup ke kameeN gaahoN meiN

Khoon Khud deta hai jalaadoN ke maskan ka suraaGh

saazisheiN laaKh uRaati raheiN zulmat ka naqaab

le ke har booNd nikalti hai hatheli pe chiraaGh

zulm kii qismat-e-nakaarah-o-rusvaa se kaho

jab’r kii hikmat-e-purkaar ke eema se kaho (eema = permission)

mehmal-e-majlis-e-aqwaam kii laila se kaho

Khoon diiwana hai, daaman pe lapak sakta hai

shola-e-tuNd hai, Khirman pe lapak sakta hai

tum ne jis Khoon ko maqtal meiN dabaanaa chaaha

aaj vo kuchaa-o-bazaar meiN aa nikla hai

kahiiN shola kahiiN naarah kahiiN patthar ban ke

Khoon chalta hai to rukta nahiiN sangeeno se

sar jo uThtaa hai to dabtaa nahiiN aaeeno se

zulm ki baat hi kya, zulm ki auqaat hi kya

zulm bas zulm hai, aaGhaaz se anjaam talak

Khoon phir Khoon hai, so shakl badal sakta hai

aisi shakleiN ke miTaaoo to miTaaye na bane

aise shole k bujhaao to bujhaaye na bane

aise naare k dabaao to dabaaye na bane

———————

Here’s a translation of the nazm by Satish Kumar Shukla Sahib. Enjoy

BLOOD IS BUT BLOOD !

A slain Lumumba is by far mightier than a living Lumumba -Nehru

Repression is sill repression

Rising, it must flop

Blood is sill blood

Spilling it must clot.

Whether it clots on desert sands

Or upon assassin’s hands

On justice’s head or around shackled feet

On injustice’s sword or on the wounded corpse

Blood is still blood

Spilling, it must clot.

However much one lies in ambush

Blood betrays butcher’s hideout

Conspiracies may veil in thousand darkly mask

Each blood drop ventures out with burning lamp on its palm.

Tell oppression’s vain and blemished fate

Tell cruelty’s crafty Imam

Tell the UN Security Council

Blood is crazy

It can leap up to the cloak

It is inferno, it can flare up to burn grain-stock.

The blood you sought to suppress in abattoir

Today that blood moves out into street

Here an ember, there a slogan, there a stone

Once blood comes to flows

Bayonets are no avail

Head, once it is raised

Is not downed by law’s hail.

What is about oppression?

What is with its impression?

Oppression is, all of it, but oppression

From beginning to end

Blood is still blood

Myriad form it can assume

Forms such as are indelible

Embers such as are inextinguishable

Slogans such as are irrepressible.

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