Fazal Baloch has translated Taj Baloch’s poem from Balochi.
The moonlight
Adorned herself and kept singing till dawn
But you didn’t come
The desperate moonlight
Buried all memories, hues and shades, and smiles
In the bosom of the earth in a vast plain
Every thorn of sun-shade shrubs
Bit by bit crammed all the stars into my eyes
Every moment of time moulded itself into a leaping fire
And froze me
Blazing sun kept melting all day long
On my body and soul
Cries of my heart echoed across the heaven
You didn’t come
Yet wrapped a never-ending night around my body
As the day broke,
You abandoned me in deserted cities
You didn’t come
And I wonder
Why a fragrant breeze
Blows off my grave.
Fazal Baloch teaches Urdu at Atta Shad Degree College, Turbat. He is the first regular translator of Balochi literature into English.
