Balochi poem by Bashir Baidar, translated by Fazal Baloch
O kind and gentle moonlight! In your embrace, hold me tight. Like a mother, rock me with love And chant to me the songs of delight. Like the luminous rainbow On lofty hills and mountains, Shower pearls of light On vast fields and arid plains. Look at the downcast hamlets, The mute and deserted pathways, Where like a graveyard life stands Perpetually silent and dismayed. Fathom the pain of the blue sea, Listen to the shrieks of the tides. Night cried again the last night, Look at the dewdrops far and wide. I wonder at these canyons, Barren caverns, and pastures -- These made wretched by time. Will your bright scarf ever flutter? If we do not reap the harvest of heads, Of corpses, floods will not surge. After all, how will a rainbow form On earth, if the sky doesn’t rain blood? How long will the night linger on To kill all the stars one by one, Smother the twilight over and over again! Yet, I am sure, there will be a new dawn.
Bashir Baidar belongs to the generation of the Balochi poets that emerged on the horizons of Balochi literature in the 1960s. Drawing inspiration from Progressive Writers Movement, Baidar’s poetry is widely cherished for his political undertone. So far, he has published four anthologies of his poetry. This Poem originally featured in poet’s third collection of poetry “Mahikaan” (Moonlight), published by Gaam Publication Gwadar in 2011.
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Fazal Baloch is a Balochi writer and translator. He has translated many Balochi poems and short stories into English. His translations have been featured in Pakistani Literature published by Pakistan Academy of Letters and in the form of books and anthologies.
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