THE DRENKA WILLEN PRIZE FOR POETRY IN TRANSLATION

Quatrain
By Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Bilal Tanweer

Those shadows echoing around the lamps in the distance:
Who knows if these are assemblies of pain or
gatherings of wine and drink

Those scattered colors on every wall, every door:
The distance doesn’t divulge
if these are petals or blood

 

Quatrain
By Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Bilal Tanweer

No sight, no word
Nothing now, said or heard
Not even some deception for comfort –
And the longing is stretched:

Beloved’s yearning, the eagerness of sight, the color of pain
Let’s keep silent tonight, for the heart is sad

When in your ocean eyes
By Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Bilal Tanweer

This shore of sunlight on
The slopes of evening,
This meeting of times:
Not day nor night
Not today nor tomorrow –
In a moment eternal, in a moment fume

Moments on these shores of light –
The spark of lips
The clink of arms –
Our intimacies,
Not lies not truths

Why should I secret this, why should I blame?
For what should I lie:

When in your ocean eyes
This evening’s sun shall set

The home shall find its sleep
And the traveler will walk his way