A Proscribed Poster
Dreams
Insecticides sprayed
On stinking water in our streets.
Eyes of coming generations
Empty tins in our kitchens
Of dough, ghee and kerosene.
Dancer
Starvation dancing
In our courtyards.
Thirst
Our historical legacy.
Words
Prisoners of curricula
For you who read scripts.
We all
Prisoners of unseen dreams
For you who look for interpretations.
(1977, Translated by Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Living Trophies
On their way to school
Carrying dreams of future
In their book bags
Kids grow into old man
Their prattle
Like tiny butterflies
Continue to live.
Of dreams and their interpretations
Of brightly lit hands
And happy lines of fate
Folks seperate from us
Their memories
Continue to live.
In the eve-time loneliness
In the head-splitting deep gaze
Like withering dreams
Scenes get blurred
Glued to the path - eyes
Continue to live.
In the empty spaces of life
In the courtyards of
Waning sunlight
Holding medals of valour
And defeats
Mothers of slain war heroes
Continue to live.
Poets
Writing on scraps die
Their poems
Continue to live.
(Translated from the original Urdu by Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Dreams Lost In Water
No distance ever separates
Dreams and desires
No mirror ever dissolves
Reflection and water
In one's eye
What graph would you make
Of lines of thought?
The triangle of pain
Is without any angle
Countless races
Have dreams alike
But sleep and night-watch
Are never the same!
Names are forgotten
Codes alone come to mind
In nuclear setups
Dreams of radiant generations
Are smitten
By atomic explosions
Cities sink
Nuclei dissipate
Orbits dwindle
What remains
Are terra and sol
In the dance of death
God is a casualty.
A moment of brightness
In a light year
Breaking into smithereens
In a million eons
An accident - yes
But not an event
History is continuity
Broken once
Telescopic eyes, tired out, give up
Their distance watching
Lost planets
Bygone epoches
Have no interposition.
Who will look for
Flowers
In spring-fresh hands
Of tiny tots?
Who will see
Dreams
In eyes-yours and mine
In centuries to be?
No one is sure
Of things lost in water!
Poem by: Naseer Ahmed Nasir,1980.
Translated from Urdu to English by Dr. Satyapal Anand and from English to Spanish by Dr. Teresinka Pereira.
Copyrights (C) All rights reserved
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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The Ultimate Story
When the stony silence
Becomes a shadow
Of internal monologues
And loneliness peeps out
Of door apertures....
Don't write a word!
When evening
Heavy with sorrow
Descends from the roof-tops
Sterile scenes play hide and seek
On paths coming from afar
And eyes placed on cornices
Gather dust of dreams....
Don't write a word!
When letters that spell
Yours name and my name
Get moth-eaten
And words suffocate to death
In closeted books of our lives
A story
You ought to write then
Without a word in it!
(Translated by Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Inside Domes
Desires are happy lyrics
Written on walls of sorrowful crying.
Paths are dreams
Of good days to come
But stay detached from destinations.
Lines are imprisoned
In circles.
So, keep walking on
Water is the end-all
Of journey in the desert.
Go, if you must
Following mirages
But carry oceans in your eyes.
Pass, if you must
In the forest of glass-encrusted silence
But keep stones of sound with you.
Live, if you must
Inside domes
But keep a door open!
(Translated by Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Archaeology
Paths
Winding their way
stop short at cave openings.
Words
Written on plaques
Bear witness to the unseen past
Crying themselves hoarse
In deserted towns
Crazy-like strike against the walls.
Far far away
Beyond the rim of lost civilizations
Silence suddenly rebounds
And reverberates.
(1975, Translated by Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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A Village Far Far Away
Far, far away is my village!
Where fireflies of my childhood
Still glow in thick folliage
Of Pipal trees.
My lisping words
As they fell from my lips
Are still alive
On old, bent, dying stairs
Of the long-deserted house!
Like rapiers thrust into silence.
Far, far away is my village!
Where darkness
Spreads its wing before it is evening
Tick-tocking sound of the flour mill
Long flights of birds
Going far, far away
Tinkling bells
All become a single tune
To drown into the dark lake
Of night.
Far, far away is my village!
Where I saw
Dreams of happy days to come
While learning my lessons
In the dim light
Of hurricane lamp.
Far, far away is my village!
Where reflections of my first love
Still linger
Where paths are shrouded
In sadness
And loneliness laced with secret longings
Peoples fields, ponds, the school
And trees herded together.
Far, far away is my village!
Where wind still finds
Its way in moonlit nights
Through silent streets
And sleepy courtyards
Calls for me in silence
And turns back, not finding me.
Wind has the same old habit
The same old routine
But life has trampled me
Under direction-less feet
Of crowds in cities.
(Translated by Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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P.O.W. (Prisoners Of War)
Locked up in a cell
The prisoners of war light the fuse to the dynamite
The door is blasted off the hinges
The prisoners of war escape through the opening where the door was
Enemy soldiers, one by one, are notified
And one by one
They try to take down the prisoners of war
War isn't pretty
War is hell
The enemy soldiers break out the guns and knives
Ready to take the prisoners of war down
But the prisoners of war do a wonderful job of fighting and staying alive
More enemy soldiers are dispatched
Some climb down or dropp off ladders
Some flip and somersault
Some continue walking and running on the ground
After dispatching the enemy soldiers
The prisoners of war climb the ladder
To where they can plan their escape
To where they can make their escape
To where they can escape in a helicopter
Leaving the life of war far behind
poem by Justin Gildow
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A Poem About Expanding Distances
Paths are hot on my trail
And eyes...... as always they do......
Behind, far behind
Are nailed to apertures in the door.
My mom has furrows
Criss-crossed on her time-worn face
And like a dot sans word
Unaware of my own import
I am gaoled in the abdomen
Of starving books.
If one were to look
Into sisters' eyes at the moment of parting
One would know
How deserts are changed into oceans.
Do you remember
You had said at separation
When the dreams of journey
Spring forth from lines of the palm
To become the fate of my feet
Two eyes......as always they do......
Behind, far behind
Will be nailed to the apertures in the door.
And that moment
(you had said)
Will be the last link in our contact.
(1980, Translated By Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Ghetto Prisioners
Nas]
Uhh.. regulate nigga
Bravehearts nigga
Live for this
Some of y'all don't live at all
Get yours nigga
Get yours baby
Uhh yo.. yo..
As the night close down on the Earth like gray dark rings
Light of cities in the nights destination for Kings
with big dreams like Castro overthrew Bautista
from Cuba and pointed nukes toward the U.S.
About to shoot us for revolution; that's how you gotta move
A lot of rules, some locked in solitude
Curse the day of they birth confused, who's to be praised?
The mighty dollar -- or almighty Allah
I'm like the farmer, plantin words, people are seeds
My truth is the soil; help you grow like trees
May the children come in all colors, change like leaves
but hold before you, one of those, prophetic MC's
with blunted flows, seven hundred souls in me
Each channelin, from past to present times, heaven shines
light on those, innocent to how the world grows
Some men become murderers, and some girls become hoes
And you accounted for, everything that you heard
Do not speak to fools; they scorn the wisdom of your words
My heart is wise, bloodshot eyes, the saga never dies
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners..
Yo we gotta be God's children, habitats in tall buildings
Rats crawl in filthy hallways, incinerators
Sinners who faithless, still there's hope, pray it's answered
Dreams turned real - what's a wicked nation?
One with blind men - not takin charge of the situation
Empty arguments and real conversations needed
The world'll need it, to hear it
Evil tries to weaken my spirit - it's chronic herb
This hurt come from the honest word
I now try hardest to serve my maker, what I learned
find it's way on the paper, so I could dictate it
Articulate it, luckily - I was put on one of the ships that made it
through strong currents and winds that left the others stranded
to sink in the Atlantic
Satan jigs the planet, not to get too religious, but
who decides when and if your life is finished?
If Christ is in this, for the sake of your name, oh Lord
may we break away from the chains abroad
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners.. get up, wake up, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners..
You wanna buy time? I'm the seller of minutes
I give you every second low-priced, if I so lies; the truth is
Time waits for none of you, in fact
he can't wait for the date to snatch the ground right from under you
Small visions of better life if cheddar was right
lurk in the mind, of young ones ahead of they time
Trapped in the slums, beggin for nuttin but takin
Headed for nuttin but the state pen, where they cousins be waitin
Judges is not relatin to pleas, guns bustin where the kids play
Richochet off lamp poles and leave damp holes
in bystanders, get cancelled, D.O.A.
Around the way where we from
Hope the future reduce the rate of those buried young
Life is every man's kingdom, a dyin man's past
and a newborn's, first time to be here at last
And shouldn't have to grow up fast, and suffer our pain
Hustlin harder than the generations here before he came
Goin through the same bullshit as our fathers
Readin history, but who's the authors?
For some the game is easy, for most of us the game is much harder
But never lose faith; through the years just get smarter
Ghetto prisoners.. ghetto prisoners..
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners.. get up, wake up, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners rise rise rise
Ghetto prisoners
song performed by by Nas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Climax Of A Long Story
She wrote me
On mud-walls
In colours delible
And then
Prayed for rain!
(1975, Translated By Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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A Smile's Sacrifies
Chains around my neck
rope around my throat
dazzles in the sun as i breathe
tightenings in the air
as i grasp for breath
cuffs on my arms as i am isolated
shackles on me limiting my movements
i often wander how big a step
have we taking to move forward
my ancestors thought for the freedom
for my freedom and did it with a smile
and though life has changed
yet we are all prisoners
prisoners of the mind
our ancestor kept a smile
in belief that rain came
after every drought no
matter how long
a wise man one said
not cause we are prisoners
should we act like prisoners
because in the end all that matters
is the smile on the face of someone
to show everyone there is still hope
poem by Robert Roberts
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Where Did You See Her?
Have you ever ventured
Beyond the dreams
Where the sulking night
Angry with her lovers, the moon and the stars
Dabs her bare body with ashes
And dances around a bonfire?
Have you ever peeped behind eyelashes
Into tired blue eyes
Where a whole world of woe
Swims in spaces unfathomed?
Have you ever spent a day
Under the greenwood trees
Erect sentry-like on each side of the road
Where the sun struggles
To find its way?
Have you ever asked
A wayfarer, a stranger
The directions to the house
Of the one
Whose waning footprints
The winds kiss
Wandering about from town to town?
(Translated from the original Urdu by Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Prisoners
The prisoners gathered in a pit and,
The mirth of tambourines ceased!
But time is a human invention like,
The fairman and the blackman.
Of the divisions of the time in this world,
Like the salvation for walls and bulwarks;
But read my lines and hear my voice always,
Like a diadem of beauty when you listen to my speech too.
This steps of Nimrod is like the acts of the prisoners too,
But this world's paganism is of a gigantic horned bull-man!
But the prisoners gathered in a pit than,
To sit on the ground without a thrown.
Circumambulation by its owner,
With the creative force like the new wine;
But there will be mourners in times like this one day.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Dancer
Im not invited to the party
Been sitting here all night
Im all alone here at the party
Aint got no black coat
Aint got no tie
I gotta shape up now
You gotto know why
Dancer, dancer
I cant live with it Im gonna die without it
Dancer, dancer
Aint no doubt about it
Dancer, dancer
Why dont you kick off your dancing shoes
And come along with me
Youre the life and soul of the funk-tion
It took me all night
To get hold of the right introduction
Blew me out of sight
I taste your lipstick
I look in your eyes
You feel fantastic
My body cries
(chorus)
(hot space)
Dancer, dancer
I cant believe your dancing
Cant take you home, cant take your dancing
Dancer, dancer, dance the night away
song performed by by Queen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dreams Are Faceless
Dreams are but faceless
Eyes alone are a visible feature
And eyes indeed
Have a quaint crowd
Of faces;
Dreams lose their way in it.
Repentant sorrow
Of compromises
Renders dry and seer
Inner seasons of good cheer
Extinguishes flames of
Soulful sentiments
Covers with an icesheet
Of sad forebodings
All scenes of love - and loveliness!
Winds' reflections sink
In shallow waters.
It's soul's sickness
That draws
Lines of unfamiliarity
On bodies' wooden slates
(Destroying their intimacy)
Painting lips with a smile
Doesn't sweeten the taste of sorrows.
How long will you dread the sand
sitting on the shore
Of affliction?
A fistful of sand
Doesn't do either
Neither does it flatten up the ocean
Nor soak away
The glittering waters of the eyes!
Do you know?
It's wise not to wake up
While sleepwalking!
Poem by: Naseer Ahmed Nasir,1992.
Translated from Urdu into English by Dr. Satyapal Anand.
Copyrights (C) All rights reserved.
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Pan American Day address (15 April 1939)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I have to say when we talk about the treatment of these prisoners that I would guess that these prisoners wake up every morning thanking Allah that Saddam Hussein is not in charge of these prisons.
quote by James Inhofe
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Charioteer Has Gone To Sleep
The charioteer has gone to sleep
Ovecome by fatigue of wearisome ways
Unaware of where he is
All that's evident
Is his continuous journey
On unmarked, worn-out way
In his wooden wagonette
From the beginning of time
To the end of time
When the wagonette
Creaks even with a small bump
Wrapped up in millions of folds
Of ragged shabbiness
Each living being is startled
The charioteer dreams
He has lost himself in strange worlds
Comfortable climes
Riding a golden chariot
And holding the princess's hand
The charioteer has gone to sleep
(Translated from the original Urdu by Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Snapshot
Night hidden behind that hillock
Hasn't peeped out so far
The ocean of darkness
Hasn't become turbulent till now
As yet black snakes
Hanging from arms of the clock
Stare at us with red ambers of their eyes
As yet with bated breath
The wolf of time
Waits behind blood-strewn sand dunes
For ripped-open body of the sun.
Surrounded by shadows - green and fresh
The shimmering cold water in the blue lake
Has as yet not become
Acquainted with
Swelling waves of strangeness
In our eyes.
Welcome...... as it is......
The frozen caravan of silent moments
And the unacquainted water
Stay.
Pay heed to me, O stranger,
My co- traveller
Ere the silent ticking of the clock
Turns into an explosion
And declares the sun's demise,
Shall we
Preserve through the camera's eye
This meeting of ours
On the blind screen of feelings......
With the waning, blood-red
Picture of receding evening's myriad scenes?
And thus fill the empty cup
Of our desires with innocent happiness?
(1975, Translated by Dr. Satyapal Anand)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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I Will Make Words Out Of Dreams
Look O, traveller
Before dying
Put your dreams
In the care
Of wind and water
I will make words out of dreams.
From the grime of your corpse
I will come to grow flowers!
(Translated by Samina Amjad)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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