Thursday, September 10, 2009

Umraan De Saravar

Swans of Grief



Come song
Drink your fill today
from the lake of my life
Drink, my song,
of these waters of experience
as they glitter with pain
Tomorrow the swans of grief
may take wing
So drink your fill today
of this beautiful lake
dip your beak
into the pure radiance
of my pain

This lake is deceptive
Though it looks
as if it is there forever
It may dry up any day
or lose its sheen
Drink song
of these experiences
Tomorrow
it may be lost to you,
this lake of my life,
then don’t complain
O song,
drink your fill today

The swans of grief
I am told
are avaricious
They feed upon
broken, bleeding hearts
and make poems
of our tears
They gather from us the music
and take flight
never to return again.
O song,
drink your fill today.

Drink of this grief
I beg of you
It will turn to gold
upon your lips
Even as I die of this ache
You, my song, will live on
and I will live
in your shadow
Don’t let death
do us both in.

Drink o drink song
of this pool of sadness
this lake of experiences
before the swans of grief
take wing
I beseech you, my song
Drink your fill today

2 comments:

  1. Hi Manjul,

    I will certainly be a frequent gazer here for one thing. For another, the inclusions of the youtube is good too, so one can hear the voice of the singer too. But I say, can you please let me know where in Delhi I can buy his CD? Any Music shop is it?
    Thanks
    Julia

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  2. Hi Julia,

    thanks for signing up to follow the blog :)it keeps me motivated to post fresh pieces. I got the jagjit-chitra singh Birah da Sultan CD at the first shop I asked for it in Gurgaon. Thats the nice thing about Shiv - his work is hugely popular and relatively accessible. If you click on the first link I've listed under Resources (on the right hand corner of the blog)there is a full-fledged library of his songs sung by different singers at the Academy of Punjab site and you can hear them there and then. No need to go shopping.

    Manjul

    ReplyDelete