This Prisoner Breathes
In the jungle of these voices
You tie my wings and ask me to fly
But you don't set me free
You regard vision as crime
After stitching my eyelashes
You put this condition of identifying seasons
You scare the shackles in my feet with faceless echoes
You prohibit my desire to fly freely in jungles
You burn the boat of my emotions
You turn the seas of my emotions into the slaves of deserts
But listen !
In the season...
...of suffocation, torture in desert and jungle....
This prisoner breathes!!!
The literal translation of this poem was made by Nukhbah Langah
The final translated version of the poem is by Lavinia Greenlaw
© Poetry Translation Centre 2004-2012
Samar Huusain says:
Hi im 15 and we are doing this as a coursework so my opinion is...
Actually if you look at Gillani's life she was a political person and fighted for rights. this poem is basicaly her being trapped in na very enclosed space where she cannot see any of her surroundings "you stich my eyelashes closed"
it is her being inprisoned for speaking her mind which in the poem is not permitted. "are so offended by my point of veiw"
It is also as if that where she is, freedom is a luxury "You say that my desire to be free is too much for your precious jungle"
Samar
Beth says:
I'm not sure I agree with Naeem, I think she's the prisoner. She's been oppressed by males to get where she is as a successful poet and this is her way of coping with it. I guess you could say it is, therefore, in reference to her entire life.
NAEEM says:
Its not something particular, it is just a reference and there isn't any particular prisoner but as I understand is that it might refer todays human being. The troubles, the worries todays man got, it refers those things....
Zambeel says:
@Saracen:
Noshi Gillani is a poetess par excellence. and she got where she is today after getting though a lot of male chavunism and other struggles. I'm not sure but my best guess is that the poem is in defiance to all those who tried to subdue her.
Saracen says:
Why did Noshi Gillani write this particular poem? Is it in reference to something particular?