Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Poetry Tuesday: Ishq ki Ijazaat

To not be able to love the one you love 
is to have your life wrenched away.

To do this to someone else is to murder their soul.
                        -Vikram Seth

The Hindi is more beautiful than the translation, so please watch if your internet access permits.

Ishq ki Ijazaat

Love is my right, not a crime
To accept us as your own is the call of our times
Perhaps He has answers, the one who made us as one
Yet of different hues, are our passions spun
You deride us, of nature we aren’t
For you are the masses, and our number are faint
So we will barter for love your gods and your saints
The passage of ages drips, painted with our pleas
But you did not relent, the slander never ceased
You who wish to change us, answer us please
Where is the justice in your blind reproval?
In fear draped cocoons, hidden we’ve lain
Under archaic curtains that colour our pain
Banish these laws, unshackle the chains
Treat us as equals, embrace us without blame
Accept us as your own, it’s the call of the times
Since when has love played by the rules of faith
Or chained the helpless, or made caste it’s wraith
Or been bound by borders, or the rules of the age
Then why single us to be stopped by your rage
This meeting of hearts, your blessings can tether
You and us, all in love and celebrating together
So accept us as your own, it’s the call of the times
Let love be my right and no longer a crime

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