Mother Poem by Muhammad Shanazar

O! Mother,
When dust rises
From underneath your steps,
Something echoes
In hollowness of the heart,
The share my sight got up till now
Is the poison of your silent lips,
My eyes only have to see dust
Underneath your blood dripping steps,

The youth harvesting the brimming crops from the farms which destination has been departed?
I don’t know
But I remember your deserted eyes
Telling me the tales of pale flowers

What are the wages
You have earned in your troubled time
Except your sons,
I don’t have any awareness.
In the winter,
While burning the dry leaves,
We shared the petty minds,
The tales of elites,
And observed a world of dreams
In the glow of your waking eyes,
At the time of dawn
We listened to the sound,
Amid the grindstones, and your sore hands,
As if it was the melody of your soul.
Ah! That song has been lost,
You too have become silent now,
And hollowness of the heart
Remains behind same like as earlier.

O! Mother,
In my heart,
The radiance of your motherhood
Descends even now,
But the moment of confession always
Remained unaccomplished.
My heart wishes to ask you
If I come across,
Which cumbersome crag
Your hands carry that my countenance pants
For the gentle touch of your hands.


O! Mother
Which are consolations of the troubled time
That you are still living in?
Which are the deserts
Where your rivers till now
Weep flowing through?
Which are the forests and mountains
Wherefrom travel through the drab silence
Of your oldness?
Which are the frail shadows
Where jasmine of your fate is decaying?

O! Mother
It is you or some canopy,
That wavers in the air
Of insipid weather
Getting itself lost
From defeated grips of cords.
It is me or some shadow of your motherhood,
That broke from the cool light
And now sinks down into the dark void,
Now we both in claim of the evidence of love,
Confronting hearts,
Question to God,
”When will be hosted, the Day of Judgment? ”

Written by Ayub Khawar
Translated by Muhammad Shanazar