(Transcreation of Faiz  Ahmed Faiz’s contentious/celebrated poem “Hum Dekhengei” written

In 1979 as critique of Zia ul Haq’s oppressive Islamist rule)

 

Inevitable that we shall see

Dawn of the promised day,

When pinnacles of tyranny

Will come to be blown away

Like bales of cotton loosely held,

When the ground shall shudder underneath

The gumption of empowered feet,

And bang on the swollen head

Lightning strike with telling heat;

When despot- icons shall be removed

From God’s outraged earthly bed,

And taintless victims of crushing faith

Be seated on the regal spread;

When crowns shall be flung away

And thrones brought low from high,

That promised day we shall  know,

We shall know, we shall  see.

Only Allah’s name shall be,

Who is both manifest and concealed,

Both hidden and revealed;

When the proclamation “I am the Truth”

Shall be made by one and all

When “we the people” shall come to rule,

 A rule that embraces one and all

 Such a day we indeed shall see,

That belongs to one and all.

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