Daily Times

We know that the phoenix is a mythological bird that obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

When it perceives its impending death, the phoenix ignites itself in a magnificent fire. In time, it re-emerges from its own ashes – reborn, renewed and very much alive. Saadat Saeed’s poetry book titled Phoenix comprises 65 poems translated in English. The last poem also carries the same title. It is a translation from the author’s book Kajli Bun (Elephant Jungle) by late Professor Jillani Kamran, an outstanding literary figure with a command on English language. The first stanza of the poem questions the phoenix as to what caravans had deprived it of lava in its mouth, quick silver in its body and the fire in its wings. The main question posed to the phoenix is to rise on the hill of fear, restore chords of its throat and tell who brought us the chill of tyranny, the death of writers’ conscience and the way to nothingness. This poem has no time frame attached to its message and it applies to the present day global happenings as well; corruption, inflation, illiteracy, global terrorism, war crimes etc. Intellectual M Salimur Rehman terms this poem to have all the configurations of a weird explosion.

Most of us live in the past. We talk of good old days, of the simple life and less costly lifestyles of back then, the ample leisure time we enjoyed in our student life and of good time spent with friends. The poet feels lonely now. He says, “Memories of ancient times are precious like pearls. Cities had peace, domains and happiness. Now dozens of deep and burning furnaces are filled with green leaves from thick trees. The restless black leaves of loneliness have overtaken everything.”

In Speak My Fish, the poet finds fish preferring to live on sandy shores but questions if they can save themselves from the claws of assaulting crocodiles in their pools of hope

Dr Saadat Saeed spent his lifetime in the field of education. He has held the positions of chairman, Urdu and Pakistan chair at Ankara University, Turkey. He is famous for his literary theorisation and poetic genius in Urdu poetry and literature. His thoughts on various themes originally said in Urdu therefore are reflected aptly in his translated poems in English. Themes vary from love to Mother Nature. The impact of a newly wed bride dying of fear with the rising sun has been exquisitely narrated in the poem ‘Sun’s Bride’. The concluding paragraph is, “Friends! Come and have a last look at her, thereafter inside the enclosure of dark night, they will bury us, in the pitch black, eyeless graves of our own bodies, and Alas! There won’t be mourners.”

The poems Pale Facet, Sleep, She has to go, Tastes of Night, The Chains of Sadness, The Story of a Storm, Voiceless Dread of Heart, During the Night, Come Crickets and alike somehow or the other pertain to night and the sentiments it arouses. In another sad but realistic picture of what life and death is all about, the poem ‘Only Death is my Destiny’ the despondent feeling is seen in the concluding lines as, “Listen, You are the only traveller, living in the deserted land of love. How long would you survive? Only death is your fate.”

Most of us live in the past. We talk of good old days, of the simple life and less costly lifestyles of back then, the ample leisure time we enjoyed in our student life and of good time spent with friends

Listed at the end of the book are the 27 books authored by Dr Saadat Saeed in varied domains of literature. The topics are of criticism, Iqbal, Raashid, Azad etc but his poetry hacks his way through a jungle of violent images and ornamental diction.

In his poem ‘Funeral Procession’, the poet talks about the concept of life and finds it as a wasted stuff of wounds, thrown in the filthy washbasin, after cleansing and wrapped in cotton pieces. The poet also gives other dimensions to the concept of life. He finds it to be a playhouse of superstitions as well as ash of humiliations. Dr Saadat Saeed is better than Jeff Mason to give some picture of life as with regards to the concept of life and death. Jeff Mason says, “Death and its concept are absolutely empty. No picture comes to mind. The concept of death has a use for the living, while death itself has no use for anything. All we can say about death is that it is either real or it is not real. If it is real, then the end of one’s life is a simple termination. If it is not real, then the end of one’s embodied life is not true death, but a portal to another life.” The latter imbeds the concept of belief given in different religions.

Dr Saadat Saeed portrays the picture of a fish market in his poem ‘Speak My Fish’ – Page 113. He finds fish preferring to live on the sandy shores but questions, “but can they save themselves from the claws of assaulting crocodiles in the pools of hope. You are hankering after Singharas but it is hard even to get a crab from there.”

The book under review is a deviation from the hackneyed love-themes. It uses different metaphors to express the various creations of God and philosophise the issues touched upon therein. Though he has translated poetry of many other poets from Iran, Turkey, Denmark, Latin America, Nepal and Sri Lanka, his own transplantation of Urdu poetry to English needs commendation.

The writer is an award-winning musician. He Tweets at @amjadparvez and can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, August 2^nd 2017.