Mehfil-e-Rashid محفلِ رشید
GHAZAL V

He Listened

سنتے تھے

Sunte The

The Story

He was the life of the party: the big stories, the funniest jokes, the loudest punchlines. Then, in his last five years, he accepted a new role in the margins. Everyone else grew louder and commanded the rooms the way he once did, and he was not bitter. He listened patiently to all of us, especially the children and his own grandchildren; he insisted he still had much to learn from them, to keep his childlike curiosity alive. He listened more, and he wrote with profound industry, sometimes spending all night on a piece. He knew he was in the twilight of his life, and he happily embraced the journey.

  1. The room was his our whole lives long; then, stepped aside, he listened;
    the punchlines passed to younger mouths; with quiet pride, he listened.

    بزم اُن کی تھی؛ پھر اپنی ہی کہانی سنتے تھے
    اپنے قصے نوجوانوں کی زبانی سنتے تھے

    bazm un kī thī; phir apnī hī kahānī sunte the
    apne qisse naujavānoṅ kī zabānī sunte the

    The gathering was his; then he would listen to his own story, hearing his tales in the young ones' telling.

  2. He swore the wisest in the room were always still the children;
    to keep his wonder breathing, kneeling at their side, he listened.

    کہتے تھے، دانش گھروندوں میں بسا کرتی ہے
    بیٹھ کر بچوں میں اُن کی نادانی سنتے تھے

    kahte the, dānish gharoṅdoṅ meṅ basā kartī hai
    baiṭh kar baccoṅ meṅ un kī nādānī sunte the

    He would say wisdom makes its home in children's little play houses; sitting among them, he listened to their innocence.

  3. The twilight came; he did not curse the dimming of the evening,
    and even as the dark rose like a slow warm tide, he listened.

    شام آئی تو اندھیروں سے گلہ کچھ نہ کیا
    رات میں بھی ایک دریا کی روانی سنتے تھے

    shām āyī to andheroṅ se gilā kuch na kiyā
    rāt meṅ bhī ek dariyā kī ravānī sunte the

    Evening came and he made no complaint against the dark; even in the night he could hear a river flowing.

  4. By day he gathered what we said; by night the pen made answer;
    all night, to every word the day had poured inside, he listened.

    دن کو سب کی بات سنتے، رات کو لکھتے رہے
    رات بھر کاغذ پہ دن کی ساری حیرانی سنتے تھے

    din ko sab kī bāt sunte, rāt ko likhte rahe
    rāt bhar kāghaz pe din kī sārī hairānī sunte the

    By day he listened to everyone; by night he kept writing: all night, on paper, he listened to the day's wonder.

  5. The rooms grew loud; the young commanded them the way he once did;
    he found the margin was a throne; from there, wide-eyed, he listened.

    بزم گونجی نوجوانوں سے، وہ حاشیے پر مقیم
    شورِ محفل میں بھی اک بے زبانی سنتے تھے

    bazm gūṅjī naujavānoṅ se, wo hāshiye par muqīm
    shor-e-mahfil meṅ bhī ik be-zubānī sunte the

    The gathering rang with the young, and he had taken up residence in the margin; beneath the noise of the mehfil he was listening to a wordlessness.

  6. You shout to hold a room, Imran; he held us all by silence,
    and when the final quiet came to be his bride, he listened.

    تم تو کمروں کو گرج کر تھامتے ہو، عمرانؔ
    موت آئی تو اُسے بھی زندگانی سنتے تھے

    tum to kamroṅ ko garaj kar thāmte ho, Imrān
    maut āyī to use bhī zindagānī sunte the

    You hold rooms by thundering, Imran; when death came, he listened to even that as life itself.