Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) translated from the Hindi-Urdu
by Alverston & Associates
Page 210: Upon A Peace Treaty
Part One
How do you do! Look here noble people!
When someone gets killed, an acquaintance or a stranger
In the end, the human race is murdered!
When war is initiated in the East or the West
In the end, world peace is vitiated!
Bombs will descend on homes or borders
The soul’s structure wounded!
Either your crops burn, or those of others
Starvation becomes life’s torment!
Tanks go forward or retreat backward
This earth’s womb becomes barren!
Even if it is celebrating victory or mourning loss
Life weeps over the mortal remains!
War itself is a problem; how can it solve dilemmas?
Will bestow fire and blood today,
Only to bequeath hunger and indigence tomorrow
That’s why- Listen! Noble people!
War getting postponed is the better solution
In your and our inner courtyards,
The candle, which keeps burning, is worthier!
Part Two
Only for the sake of your superiority
Is bloodshed necessary?
To erase the darkness within your home,
Is it necessary to burn down the house?
For wars, there are countless battlefields
And, certainly, not just the front lines of carnage
Conjecturing upon life is wisdom too
And it is never madness to do so!
Let’s join forces within this unfortunate existence
Let’s make it popular to illuminate perceptions
Those thoughts by which peace can achieve urgency
Let’s supervise new kinds of wars:
War against fright and destruction
War for harmony and elevation of civilization
War against glorification of death and its management!
Hail peace for the immortality of humanity
War against penury and vassalage
Hail peace for the sake of the battered constitution
War against the astral leadership
Peace for the helpless populace
War against the absolute rule of capital
Peace for a universally happy democracy
War against the philosophy of warfare
Peace for lives filled with tranquility.
Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) translated from the Hindi-Urdu
by Alverston & Associates
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