The Sufi poets invariably interpret Sohni's death as symbolizing the end of this illusory life and unification with eternal beauty and truth, the ultimate reward that awaits all faithful lovers.
Gardezi, as is evident, gives a new and unique twist to the ending of this tale by implying that the struggles and strivings of this world are preferable to a life of eternal fulfillment and peace in the hereafter.
'These struggles and strivings or 'gambling with life' are, of course, not for any egotistic glories or abstract ideals. The struggles and sacrifices that make life worthwhile in this world are against the manifold institutionalized injustices, inequalities, political repression and human prejudices. This is made very clear in a number of poems on these themes. Some of these poems bring home the poet's message in a simple and direct language, as is the case in The Servant's Child, This Humanity and The Savior of the East. Others communicate in thinly disguised metaphors as in Circus and Dolls. While Gardezi raises his voice against all that is oppressive and demeaning to the human body and soul, he is essentially an optimist. He regards the ruthlessness of man and his actions as an aberration. Human nature is seen to be essentially good. He continues to dream of man's real abode as peaceful and serene. This is illustrated very well in two of his utopian poems, Homeland ,and Escape. To quote from the latter:
Go yonder my love
Beyond this realm full of sorrows
Where lies a hamlet of good fortunes
There with the touch of a single bough
Songs of spring gently flow
No tyrants there, nor their victims
No masters, servants, rulers, ruled
There is no oppression of man by man
No tears flow, no plaintiff's cry
Everything for common use
Deference to none, none abused
Come my love, let us go
In the poem Homelands, Gardezi shows a keen awareness of the alienation of modern man. But being an optimist, he does not succumb to despair. The solution to the problem of alienation lies in imaginatively recreating what has been lost through sheer drifting into the modern industrial age, regaining our sensitivity to the beauty of a truly human and natural landscape.
Why this trepidation?
Before long your brutal cage will fall apart
The sorrows of confinement end
And you will fly away to your homeland
Where gentle maidens sway on fancy swings
Where the jingling of green crystal bangle
Fills the calm air with sweet music
You will hear the murmuring of waterwheels
That touch the mind like tunes of even raga
Sung by She who rules the realm of dreams
A land hidden by the twilight clouds
Yes you are a native of that country
The adorable bird of that fruitful garden
Now cast by fate into a wasteland
A wasteland of artificial, synthetic forms.
The poet can also gently warn us of what is being lost due the thoughtless exploitation of the good earth. In the poem Finale he writes:
Once there was a garden on this land
A rendezvous for lovers
There were bustling habitats
Bathed in the colors of the rainbow
Fragrances floated in the air
And there was calm contentment
But now no evidence of life
No greenery to please the eye
No water flows across the surface
Of this thirsty land
Songs of nightingale
Are no longer heard
For no birds ever fly
Across this barren land
What makes Gardezi's progressive poetry different from the other Siraiki writers is that the socio-political dimension of his thinking is integrally blended with a metaphysical or spiritual dimension. Like the Sufi poets he too engages the beloved in passionate dialogue or monologues. Although this beloved is more mysterious and elusive, as depicted in the poems, 'Your Memories', 'Apparitions' , and 'Craving of the Soul', its being is very central in promoting the message of hope and optimism in a world becoming increasingly bereft of human compassion, wisdom and true knowledge. To quote from the first of these poems:
The shadows of your memories
Fall on my soul
Like unexpected rain clouds
That appear suddenly in the afternoon
Below scorching summer's sun
Cool breezes stir
And flashing thunderstorms
Spread their long soaking tresses
Like a canopy over the burning sand
Thirsty crops and scorched hamlets
Seem to smile in contentment
Water fills the eye of the sand
And leprous face of the Thar
Is cleansed to health again
Again I sit in darkness
Thoughts frozen in the void of your absence
I hear your words
From far off lands
Like tiny lamps
They dance around me
I collect these sparkling lights
And begin to slide into the abyss
This poem also reveals a number of elements that characterize Gardezi's poetic art, his skillful use of Siraiki diction to recreate an imagery vibrant with life and beauty, his choice of symbols and metaphors from the all too familiar environment of the local habitat, a touch of romance and the restlessness of spirit found in most of his poems. It is this romantic impulse and restlessness of the spirit that leads the poet to see and experience haunting mysteries in his natural environment, captured in such poems as Walking Through the Night and Tenements in Sand. To quote from the latter:
Yonder
in the middle of the desert
cloaked in blazing sand
stand
on leftover land
a few ruined tenements
In the middle of the night when the dunes cool off
the yellow beams of the waning moon descend
and steal into the ruined tenements;
from the skies above arrayed on magic carpets
descend
strange creatures
whose feet jingle bell and make music
the two date palms then begin to rock and sway;
the yellow moon, the fading stars
all begin to whirl and swirl
in an ecstasy of dance.
But lo!
At the first flick of dawn
all this bustle is gone
as weeping voices arise
from ruined tenements
These types of mystical experiences abound in Gardezi's poetry. What is this that animates nature for a few fleeting moments and is then gone? It could be the beloved's reflection, or the "Truth' and "Light' that the night traveler is walking the desert in search of in the other poem. For now, it better be left to the imagination of the reader.
In the final analysis, one may say that all this is part of the metaphysical dimension of Gardezi's poetry based on his intense reflection on the riddle of existence, and solutions to this riddle buried on the one hand in the Sufi cosmology , and on the other hand expounded through the latest achievements of science and technology to which the poet is equally alert. It is this intense reflection on the riddle of existence that seems to have led Gardezi to compose a superb allegorical poem, The Prison. This poem is an artistically created design of symbols and meanings that highlights the fundamental contradiction between the freedom that all of us seem to value and desire, as at the same time we create the conditions of our own servitude through a unidimensional pursuit of self-indulgence and self preservation. Says the poet :
This is my sole possession
This prison of mine
Created by my life-long toil.
Memories fail to recall
The countless days and nights
Lived inside this edifice
Looking after it brick by brick
Sweeping, cleaning, keeping it pure.
This holy prison of mine.
Symbolically this prison can stand for the human body, a house, this world, the capitalist mode of production or literally a cage a prisoner becomes used to over a period of time. Whatever it be, it certainly does not seem to be the proper abode for humankind endowed with the spirit of freedom and boundless potential for creativity. This is affirmed in the next stanza of the poem with a bold claim to the primacy of humankind within all existence.
Surely, I am God's behest
The shadow of his divine light
Peerless and eternal
Space and time have no meaning for me
Damsels of paradise, genii, angels
Light my way with lamp,;
Flowers of paradise bloom for me
I am immaculate, a divine dove
That soars to the heavens.
However this affirmation leads to another negation which the poet finds beyond comprehension:
But strange as it may be
I am attached to the security of my prison
As long as this earth is there
Sun shines and moon glows
I know it will be my heart's desire
To dwell within these walls
In hardship, infirmity and humiliation
To shun freedom whatever the cost.
But it is only a matter of time. The prison is going to fall apart. After all, it is only a human artifact. The prisoner is going to be free when he knows no longer what to do with his freedom. Therefore the fear of freedom as depicted in the last lines of the poem
Erosive water now seeps
Into the foundations of my prison
Beams once strong and willing
Now barely support its rotting roof...
But I continue to make this edifice home
And sit patiently within its confines
Surrounded by a network of anticipa0tions
Succumbing to the fear of my prison's collapse
The term of my confinement coming to an end.
In conclusion, it should be noted that this introduction is written primarily to provide a socio-linguistic background which may prove useful to those unfamiliar with Siraiki and its literary tradition in appreciating and enjoying the poems translated into English, These poems are the product of an imagination that hovers over centuries of human history. In his poem Arduous journey, written in support of the establishment of a Siraiki speaking province, characterizes his speech community in a manner that is a genuine reflection of his own self:
We are singular, compassionate and faithful
Brave by inheritance, gentle in spirit
A people not used to flaunting their graces
(Professor Gardezi, a former Dean of the Sociology Department of Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan, has written extensively on social and cultural issues relating to South Asia. He now lives in Ontario, Canada)
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