Meena Kumari's Sketch

Alone, in a limitless stretch of loneliness
Caught in confused webs of fate,
Am I.
Again the crossroads, again a nameless silence,
Misty vision, deep quiet
Conscience donning the garb of apathy.
Life, an empty question,
A hushed wonder, the only answer.

Poem by Meena Kumari – Sketch and Translations (from the Urdu) by Fatima Ahmed

Meena Kumari's Sketch

My past
My loneliness, a blind abyss
Filling my breath
Ticking in my pulse
Etched deep into time
By myriad passing moments.
My blood crying for a cupped hand
Seeking a companion
Seeking identity
Seeking completeness.
My loneliness
Your wounds are my sores
Your pangs my sighs.
You, a deserted mosque,
I, your prayer call
Echoeing its own despair
Kneeling on widowed earth
Praying to whom?

Poem by Meena Kumari – Sketch and Translations (from the Urdu) by Fatima Ahmed

Meena Kumari's Sketch

Flame
Clothed in ashes,
Corpse of ice
In a coffin of lava,
Mute love
Wrapped in notoriety.
Sacred drops
Of dirty tears
Crowding the Holy river.
A din rising noiselessly
A paradise startled.
Waiting silence.
Limits on limitless feelings.
Vagabond soul, wandering
Seeking the valley of lights
Facing the truth at every bend.
One truth in two garbs –
Love and Death.

Poem by Meena Kumari – Sketch and Translations (from the Urdu) by Fatima Ahmed