AVTAAR SINGH PAASH

AVTAAR SINGH PAASH

"The Most Dangerous."

”The Most Dangerous
Most treacherous is not the robbery
of hard earned wages
Most horrible is not the torture by the police.
Most dangerous is not the graft for the treason and greed.
To be caught while asleep is surely bad
surely bad is to be buried in silence
But it is not most dangerous.
To remain dumb and silent in the face of trickery
Even when just, is definitely bad
Surely bad is reading in the light of a firefly
But it is not most dangerous
Most dangerous is
To be filled with dead peace
Not to feel agony and bear it all,
Leaving home for work
And from work return home
Most dangerous is the death of our dreams.
Most dangerous is that watch
Which run on your wrist
But stand still for your eyes.
Most dangerous is that eye
Which sees all but remains frostlike,
The eye that forgets to kiss the world with love,
The eye lost in the blinding mist of the material world.
That sinks the simple meaning of visible things
And is lost in the meaning return of useless games.
Most dangerous is the moon
Which rises in the numb yard
After each murder,
But does not pierce your eyes like hot chilies.
Most dangerous is the song
Which climbs the mourning wail
In order to reach your ears
And repeats the cough of an evil man
At the door of the frightened people.
Most dangerous is the night
Falling in the sky of living souls,
Extinguishing them all
In which only owls shriek and jackals growl,
And eternal darkness covers all the windows.
Most heinous is the direction
In which the sun of the soul light
Pierces the east of your body.
Most treacherous is not the
robbery of hard earned wages
Most horrible is not the torture of police
Most dangerous is not graft taken for greed and treason.”

AVTAAR SINGH PAASH

We don’t want anything for form’s sake:
Like muscles pulled in the back of our arms,
Or lashes prominently visible
On the back of the oxen,
Or our future sacred and shrunk
In the affidavits of loans;
We want everything actual
Of life, equality and what not.

As the sun, the wind and the cloud
Remain close to us in houses and fields;
Likewise we want to have
Of polity, belief and joy,
A feel close to our lives,
Mighty ones, we want everything actual.

We don’t want anything hoax-like
As a tout’s evidence falsely concocted
In a case of illicit distillation;
Fairness that a patwari may profess,
Or the oath the middleman may take –
A fact on the palm of our hand we want
Like saltish tinge in sugar-cane’s jaggery
Or nicotine in the burning hookah;
Something like skein on the beloved’s lips
The lover feels on kissing, we want.

We don’t want books to read
Tucked on the lathis of the police;
We don’t want to hear
Songs to the tune of military boots declaimed,
With yearning fingertips we want to feel
Songs resonating on the tops of trees.
To taste something bitter in tear-gas,
Or one’s own blood on the tongue to taste,
Is recreation for none;
But we don’t want anything for form’s sake
We want everything actual
Life, socialism or what not...

AVTAAR SINGH PAASH

ਕਈ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਣ
ਬੜਾ ਕੁਝ ਹੋਰ ਆਖਣ ਨੂੰ ਹੈ
ਬਹੁਤ ਕੁਝ ਅੱਗੇ ਤੈਅ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲਾ ਹੈ
ਜਿਵੇਂ ਗੱਲ ਸ਼ਬਦਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਕਹੀ ਨਹੀ ਜਾ ਸਕਦੀ
ਜਿਵੇਂ ਵਾਟ ਕਦਮਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਨਹੀ ਮੁੱਕਦੀ
ਕਈ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਣ
ਹੁਣ ਕਹਿਣ ਲਈ ਕੁਝ ਵੀ ਬਾਕੀ ਨਹੀਂ
ਤੈਅ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਕੁਝ ਵੀ ਬਚਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ
ਜਿਵੇਂ ਸਬਦ ਨਪੂਨਸਕ ਹੋ ਗਏ ਹੋਣ,
ਤੇ ਮੈਂ ਵੀ ਕਹਿੰਦਾ ਹਾਂ,
ਸਫਰ ਦੇ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਨਾ ਕਰੋ
ਮੈਨੂੰ ਅਗਲਾ ਕਦਮ ਧਰਨ ਲਈ ਜ਼ਮੀਨ ਦੇਵੋ