May is South Asian Heritage Month. This poem was originally published in Rebel Youth #26 (Winter 2020-2021). To receive the newest issue of Rebel Youth – Jeunesse Militante, subscribe here!
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911—1984) was a communist, a staunch internationalist, and one of the most celebrated poets of the Urdu language. Born under colonialism in Punjab, he served not only as editor of the Pakistan Times, but as vice-president of the Pakistan Trade Union Federation, and was an active member of the World Peace Council. Faiz was arrested in 1951 during a wave of mass-arrests of communists and spent four years in prison, after which he was exiled to England and the USSR. After briefly returning to Pakistan in 1964, he was again exiled, this time to Lebanon. Following the Lebanon War, he returned to Pakistan in poor health, where he died at the age of 73. He recieved the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962 for his work.
Based on a translation by Mustansir Dalvi
Hum mehnat-kash jagwaalon se jab apna hissa maangenge
Ik khet nahin ik desh nahin hum saari duniya maangenge
When we, who toil by the sweat of our brow, will ask the people of the world for our share,
We won’t be content with a farm or a country, we’ll ask for the whole world for ourselves.
Yaan sagar sagar moti hain yaan parbat parbat heere hain
Yeh saaraa maal hamaara hai hum saara khazaana maangenge
We may find pearls in every sea or dig out diamonds from every peak;
All of this is ours and we shall ask for all the world and its treasury.
Jo khoon bahaa jo baag ujde jo geet dilon mein qatl hue
Har qatre ka har ghunche ka har geet ka badla maangenge
For blood that was spilt, for gardens laid bare, for every song stillborn in our hearts,
For every drop, every flowering bud, for every song, we shall seek amends.
Se seth byopaari rajwaade dus laakh to hum das laakh karod
Yeh kitne din Amrika se jeene ka sahaara maangenge
Bosses, businessmen, preening royalty: they may be one million strong, but we are twenty trillion!
How long will they rely on America to shoulder the burden of their lives?
Jab saf seedhi ho jaayegi jab sab jhagde mit jaayenge
Ham har ik desh ke jhande par ik laal sitaara maangenge
When every path will straighten, when all strife will end,
We’ll demand that a red star shine bright on the flags of all nations!