Ahmed Faraz, one of the greatest modern Urdu poets, died a few days ago (here’s the obituary from The New York Times). In order to celebrate the fact that –for a strange coincidence - I’ve just read a book about Urdu poetry, I’ll post one of his poems.
Khvaab Marte Naheen (Dreams Do Not Die)
Dreams do not die.
Dreams are not hearts, nor eyes or breath
Which shattered, will scatter (or)
Die with the death of the body.
Dreams do not die.
Dreams are light, life, wind,
Which can not be stopped by mountains black,
Which do not burn in the hells of cruelty,
Like light and life and wind, they
Do not bow down even in graveyards.
Dreams are letters,
Dreams are illumination,
Dreams are Socrates,
Dreams are Mansur!
Mansur: a Male Arabic and Persian given name that means “victorious by divine aid”, literally "blessed by God to be victorious” (from wikipedia).
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