Poetry Feature: Asian American Translations Rafiq Kathwari 13 Versions, from the Urdu Sir Muhammed Iqbal (1887-1938) Himalaya Bright Rose Withered Rose Firefly Your Love's Horizon is What I want Fiction Nourished by the Night Two Stars A Walk in the Sky On Shakespeare Search a Little Longer Cordoba The Coal to a Diamond Arthur Sze Five translations, from the Chinese Return to Chaing Village by Tu Fu (712-770) In the Bamboo Grove by Wang Wei (701-761) Drinking Alone with the Moon by Li Po (701-762) Drinking Wine by T'ao Ch'ien (365-427) To the Tune of Sky-Clear: Autumn Thoughts by Ma Chih-yuan (1260-1324) Rafiq Kathwari 13 Versions from the Urdu: Sir Mohammed Iqbal About the poet: Sir Mohammed Iqbal (1887-1938), who published nine volumes of poetry, continues to inspire millions in South Asia. He advocated ceaseless endeavor, wrote with equal ease in Persian, Urdu, and English. His magnum opus, Javed Nama (addressed to Javed, Iqbal's son), composed in Persian, develops the recurrent theme in Iqbal's work: the potentiality of man, as partner with God, in shaping the destiny of the universe; the poet soars the spheres with Rumi, meeting many icons of history. The reference to Dante's Divine Comedy is obvious. -- RK   Himalaya O Himalaya, tell of that time when man first lay in your lap. O let me imagine that dawn unstained by red. Run backward, cycle of day and night, ancient eras a moment in your lifetime. You are a poem whose first verse is the sky. Your bright turbans dazzle the Pleiades. Lightning across your peaks sends black tents wandering above the valley. The wind polishes the trembling mirrors at your hem. Streams cascade down your forehead, your cheeks quiver. As morning air cradles intoxicated roses and the leaves are silenced by the rose-gatherer's wrists, so speech is silenced in the roar of falling water. Bright Rose You cannot loosen the heart's knot, perhaps you have no heart, no share in the turmoil of this garden, where I yearn but gather no roses. Of what use to me is wisdom? Once out of the garden, you are at peace. I am anxious, scorched as I search. Even Jamshid's empty cup foretold the future, may wine never satisfy my mouth, that open circle in the mirror. (Jamshid's cup: the mythical Persian king Jamshid saw the reflection of all events in a wine cup.) Withered Rose By what words can I deem you desire of the nightingale's heart? The morning breeze was your cradle, the garden a tray of perfumes. My tears rain like dew, and in my barren heart your ruin an emblem of mine, my life a dream of roses. Firefly A candle among the roses In the garden A shooting star A loop of the moon's robe A speck in the sun's hem In and out of eclipse Consul of day In night's kingdom Unknown at home Lucid in exile Unlike the moth The firefly is light A Fragment (From "Firefly") Song is the nightingale's scent Scent is song of the rose Rose's scent is the firefly's radiance   Your Love's Horizon is What I Want The simplicity of what I want! Tease me with a glance Test my patience. That's what I want! Let's bestow bliss on the pious Seeing you face to face is what I want! I am a speck of dust reaching for the sky "You can't behold," is the command I want! One day I will leave this gathering I love Snuffed like a candle is not what I want! I have told our secret in public I have no manners. Scold me. That's all I want!   Fiction "Why didn't you make me eternal?" Beauty asked God one day, who replied: "The world's fiction is carved from nothingness. In changing colors you were born: true beauty is ephemeral." The moon overheard this dialogue, beamed it to the morning star who woke the dawn, whispering sky's secret to the dewdrop, earth's guardian. Dew drenched the rose petals, and spring left the garden weeping.   Nourished by the Night The stars asked the moon: "We have grown weary shining. Are we destined to journey forever? When will we rest?" The moon replied: "My friends, you who are nourished by the night, movement is in all Creation, time is a galloping steed. This path has no resting-place. In rest hides death. Those who gallop are free, those who rest are destroyed. The path's beginning is passion, and absolute passion the end."   Two Stars As two stars approached each other, one said: "If we could only stay only could stop whirling, If the sky were kinder we'd shine together." But this desire of two bears longing in itself. Stars are fated to revolve in orbits ordained. Together is a dream. Separation the law.   A Walk in the Sky I walked alone, the bewildered stars, past day and night, circled my journey's secret. I left the old order. What can I tell you about Paradise, desire's horizon? Birds in olive trees, houris unveiled, goblets clinking. Beyond Paradise, a place so dark even Layla's curls would pale, so icy, Venus herself would hide. "What is this place?" "This is hell," an angel answered to my surprise. "Here, borrowed fire creates turmoil: those who come here are their own flame."   On Shakespeare The river mirrors the glow of dawn Night silence mirrors night song The rose mirrors the fame of spring Bridal cup mirrors virgin Wine The sun's glory revealed in the sun Your passionate speech mirrors my heart Concealed from the world's eyes You revealed the world with your own Nature protects her secrets so jealously Never again will there be such knowledge   Search a Little Longer Lift the veil from your face The stars are witnesses Do not tease Come out boldly Become a healer Passion is in your heart How long will you beg like Moses on the mountain The flame is within you Create a new Mecca with every speck of your dust Rid yourself of idolatry Observe the limits in this garden Even if you want to boast First create the confidence of Alexander in yourself Then lust after the glory of Darius   Cordoba (Written in 1932 on Spanish soil, mainly in the Mosque of Cordoba) [See the 12 Section for full presentation. Eds.] I Chain of day and night Fashioner of events Basis of life and death Two tone silken thread Fiber of attributes Pitch of prospects Chain of day and night Sitting in judgment Setting a value on us When we're lacking Death is your destiny Death is my destiny What else is reality The flow of one age Neither day nor night All crafts vanish Black and white fade Annihilation the end   II But in this form Hues of eternal life Splendor of man's love Love is life's base Death has no claim on love Love itself the tide Stemming the torrent Love is unnamed eras Love is Gabriel's breath Love is the Prophet of God Love is the Word of God Love is the radiant rose Love is raw wine Love the goblet of kings Love draws life's music Love is passion for life Love is fire of life   III O Mosque of Cordoba Born of love with no past Color or stone or brick Harp or song or speech Man's passionate creation A drop of blood turns Even stone into hearts The heart's voice is joy Burning and melody You illuminate the heart My song burns the breast You draw man's heart To the presence of God But the passion of love For God is man's alone I spark man's passion Though his sight is finite His heart is wider than the sky So what if God has rights He doesn't earn the pain I am an Indian infidel Witness my fervor In my heart prayers On lips blessings Love is my flute Love is my song In my every bone "God is God"   IV Witness of man's worth Your glory mirrors his soul Firm columns soar Palms in Syrian sands Sinai's light gleams roof Gabriel crowns the minaret A Muslim can never despair Standing where the Prophets stood His horizon infinite Tigris Danube Nile flood his veins Cup-bearer and horseman In love a warrior A sword's shadow his armor "There is no god but God"   V You reveal man's secret Ardor of his days Dissolution of his nights His submission As is God's hand So is the believer's Man prospers on deeds He is clay and fire Divine within Free of both worlds His ambition small His purpose large Pure-hearted in war or peace God's compass revolves Around man's faith And the world is illusion Man of God is reason's horizon The harvest of love Fire of the gathering Heaven's passion   VI Art lover's Mecca Faith's grandeur You made Andalusia holy Only Muslims mirror your grandeur O those Arab horsemen Pledged to truth Revealed this new secret People who embrace Faith Renounce the material They enlightened the West Yemen's scent persists Even today Arabia's music Lingers in Andalusia's breeze   VII Alas for centuries No Calls to Prayer Echo the minaret In which valley At which destination Is love's caravan inducing frenzy As all Europe swept away the old order Repainted the face of the West So today those torrents stir Muslims A divine prophecy seals my lips But let us watch secrets surface From the ocean's depth Watch the sky change hue   VIII A cloud drenched in twilight The sun scatters rubies A peasant's daughter sings Youth sails on heart's boat On the Guadalquivir Someone dreams of another age New order still veiled by fate Another dawn is approaching In my mind's eye If I unveil my thoughts Fan the flames of my song Europe couldn't endure Life without revolution is death As man's creations are soulless Without passionate belief So my song   The Coal to a Diamond Iqbal after Nietzsche My stuff is so vile, I am less than dust while your gleam rends the mirror's heart. My darkness lights the chafing-dish before I am incinerated. A miner's boot tramples my head, covering me with ashes. Do you know my life's gist? A condensed sliver of smoke, transformed into a single spark, in feature and nature starlike, your every facet a splendor, light of the king's eye, the dagger's jewel. Friend, be wise, the diamond replied, assume a bezel's dignity! Loam strives to harden to fill my bosom with radiance. Burn because you are soft. Banish fear and grief. Be hard as stone, be diamond. About the translator: Rafiq Kathwari's work appeared most recently in Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English, Ed.: Agha Shahid Ali (Wesleyan, 2000) and in Big City Lit® (May 2001). He lives in New York City. ~ . ~ Arthur Sze Five translations, from the Chinese Photo: © 2001 George Kunze Return to Chiang Village by Tu Fu (712-770) Shaggy red clouds in the west— the sun's foot is down to level earth. By the wicker gate, sparrows are chirping. The traveler returns from over a thousand li. Wife and children panic at my presence; quieted, they still wipe tears. In this age of turmoil, I floated and meandered. A miracle of chance to return alive! Neighbors crowd the fence tops and also sigh and sob. In the deep night, we are again holding candles, facing each other as in a dream.   In the Bamboo Grove by Wang Wei (701-761) I sit alone in the secluded bamboo grove and play the zither and whistle along. In the deep forest no one knows, the bright moon comes to shine on me.   Drinking Alone with the Moon by Li Po (701-762) Among the flowers with a jug of wine, I pour, alone, lacking companions, and, raising cup, invite the bright moon: facing my shadow makes three people. But the moon is unable to drink, and my shadow just follows my body. For a time the moon leads the shadow; be joyous as long as it's spring! I sing, and the moon wavers. I dance, and the shadow stumbles. When sober, we were intimate friends; now drunk, each of us separates. May we be bound and travel without anxieties— may we meet in the far Milky Way.   Drinking Wine by T'ao Ch'ien (365-427) I built my house near where others live, and yet without noise of horse or carriage. You ask how this can be? A distant mind leaves the earth around it. I plant chrysanthemums below the eastern fence Then gaze at mountains to the south. The mountain air is fine at sunset; Flying birds go back in flocks. In this there is a truth: I wish to tell you but lose the words.   To the Tune of Sky-Clear Sand: Autumn Thoughts by Ma Chih-yuan (1260-1324) Withered vine, old tree, crows. A small bridge, running water, houses. Ancient road, west wind, lean horse, sun sinking in the west— and a man, crushed, at the sky's edge. About the translator: Arthur Sze has published seven collections of poems, including The Redshifting Web (Copper Canyon, l998), and The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese (Copper Canyon Press, 2001). He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts.