کھڑکیاں

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1. Win­dows — Poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir

   Win­dows show vis­tas
   of hearts, of minds or of eyes for us –
   whether they open out­ward or inward and
   bring light from the oth­er end to this end.

   Win­dows com­mu­ni­cate too
   opens the alpha­bet locks of our lips.
   When the night knits laces of dark­ness on the win­dows
   life speaks up in whis­pers from chasms of pain –
   win­dows, then, stay silent, and
   endure the tongue-tied days, nights of oppres­sion
   and eons of coer­cion.

   Win­dows are chron­i­cles of dreams of the cen­turies
   voice­less wit­ness­es of abysmal depth,
   quads and ‘destruc­t­ed’ hous­es
   in the time of the tor­men­tor’s forced anlage con­tin­u­um
   bear­ing proof of the rust­ed times howl­ing with fatigue.

   Win­dows have the heart of a woman –
   per­fume, sun­shine, rain or moon­beams
   with a sin­gle gust of wind
   they unfas­ten their body’s wings, and
   blow away the paper images
   to waste away life in unknown long­ings.

   When but­ter­flies sway in front of win­dows, then
   the eyes on the win­dow panes turn tear­ful.
   Noon­tides get soaked
   when the white and red flow­ers laden climbers
   truss them, then
   the evenings await the beau­ti­ful strangers
   fill­ing their fists with the touch of fire bee­tles.

   Win­dows at times become adamant on being kept open
   They get stunned to watch the lazu­line sky,clouds and birds.
   If they’re kept shut for­ev­er
   they have fear of the walls and rooms get­ting asphyx­i­at­ed.
   They’re afraid of the res­i­dents aban­don­ing their hous­es.
   They too feel lone­ly,
   despon­den­cy engulfs them.
   Win­dows are human beings!

   (Eng­lish trans­la­tion by Dr. Bina Biswas)