Iftikhar Arif

乌尔都文

Rainer Kimmig

英文

ایک تھا راجہ چھوٹا سا

© Iftikhar Arif
从: Written in the Season of Fear
Karachi: Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press, 2005
录制: 2006, M. Mechner / Literaturwerkstatt

Another kind of lullaby

I asked the mother of Ali Iftikhar to stop our son from
                                                chasing butterflies,
Stop him from asking for swings
Just because he can see these flying ships in neighbouring
                                                                        gardens,
Tell him not to tell the pigeons
That the winds have snatched away his kite.
For in the full bright blossoming summer,
I am afraid that past wounds will re-open,
Will start to bleed — all over again.
Again the old story
Mirrored as new.

Translated by Rainer Kimming