Translated from Seraiki to English by Muhammad Abdul Sami
Translator’s note
Rifat Abbas’s poetry conflates urban imagery, oral traditions and contemporary social issues. Ghanta Ghar (Clock Tower) is a monumental clock tower in the main square of Multan city that was an administrative building during the British period. While the exterior of the building gets renovated every year, its massive clocks have been in a state of disrepair for decades. The building is uninhabited at present and occupied by street vendors and hawkers. In my translation, I wanted to highlight this urban imagery that is usually absent or is not considered ‘poetic’ in the larger Seraiki literary tradition. The mango trees and rosewoods are part of Multan’s cultural and ecological habitat. They have an idyllic aesthetic attached to them, but Abbas has tied them with another metaphor: metaphor of war and communication.
City’s Clocks
This city’s clocks
broke four five decades ago
For their repair, we invited
craftsmen from far, far away
First came the maker of these clocks
He stood there laughing
He stood there crying
He stood there dancing
We draped him with flowers and made him sit on the city’s doorstep
Then came the seller of these clocks
A dozen clocks plastered across his face
A pendulum hung around his neck
swaying
The seller went around the city negotiating
We did not buy the time he brought
Then came a commissioner
He climbed up the towers of Ghanta Ghar
The sheep on those broken clocks
scared him
The bulls on those broken clocks
scared him
He got himself transferred
and never returned to the city
Then came a mechanic
Then a photographer
Then a commander
This city has given one final chance
to its poet
Postman
World War II
Were it not for the postman would have not ended
There were five rosewoods right here
whose sons were fighting on the front
There were five mangoes right here
whose sons were fighting on the front
The rosewoods wrote a letter to their sons
When will the war end?
The mangoes wrote a letter to their sons
When will the war end?
The rosewoods were informed from the front
The war will soon be over
The mangoes were informed from the front
The war will soon be over
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