Eyes forged from our tears,
we tugged the tides of our sorrow.
Each of us grieved
in his own way.
The earth listens, more than the sky,
to the cries of the stars.
I untangled death’s hair,
stretched out on a lie.
Sleep toyed with my eyes
like marbles.
The evening bore two hues.
I’ve loaned my moon
to the skies.
I am a lantern in death’s hands,
watching the chariot spin
on the wheels of birth.
My being, buried in the dirt.
Lift your prostrating heads.
Death has abandoned
a child in my lap.
Translator’s note
These translations are from Aankhein, which remains in circulation without a known literary estate or publisher actively enforcing copyright. While many renditions of her work exist in print, I was drawn to create versions that reflect the surrealism and fragmentation in her poetry through the use of breath and space, in keeping with the aesthetics of contemporary English-language poetry.
Sara Shagufta (1954–1984) was a Pakistani poet who wrote experimental, confessional, and political verse in Urdu and Punjabi. Born in the Punjabi city of Gujranwala, she spent most of her life in Karachi. Her posthumously published collection, Aankhein, cemented her reputation as one of the most original and overlooked voices in Urdu poetry.
Aiman Tahir Khan is a writer and editor from Lahore, Pakistan. She was selected as the inaugural Pakistan Youth Poet Laureate in English. Her work appears in Nimrod, Porter House Review, and Muzzle Magazine, among others. She currently serves as Associate Poetry Editor at Sontag Mag, mentors young Pakistani poets through Lakeer Magazine, and reads works in translation for The Adroit Journal.