Faiz Ahmad Faiz | Fragrant Hands | Translated by Agha Shahid Ali

 Faiz Ahmad Faiz | Fragrant Hands | Translated by Agha Shahid Ali

Fragrant Hands 

(For the anonymous woman who sent me a bouquet of flowers in prison)

A strange arrangement to comfort the heart--
someone has made that possible
in a corner of the cell
with giving generous hands,

and the air is now so softened,
I compare it with the beloved’s hair,
the air is so drowned,
I think a body, wearing a jewelry of blossoms,
has just passed this way.

And as the air holds itself together,
a bouquet of compassion,
I can say:

Let thousands of watches be set on cages
by those who worship cruelty,
fidelity will always be in bloom –
this fidelity on which are grafted
the defeats and triumphs of the heart.

      *     *     *

Should you, Oh air, ever come across her,
my friend of fragrant hands, recite this from Hafiz of Shiraz to her:
“Nothing in this world is without terrible barriers –
Except love, but only when it begins.

– Faiz Ahmad Faiz,
Central Jail, Hyderabad
28, 29 April, 1953

Personal note:

I remember hearing somewhere that Salman Rushdie based his character Nadir Khan in Midnight's Children on the real life occurrences of his own family's experience with Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and that Faiz hid in the basement of Salman Rushdie's family's house and that his vivid retelling of the poet in the basement was owing to this honoring of memory and how his family helped keep Faiz safe for a time.