A.Abubaker
Junior Member
Some poems by ''Nightingale of Peshawar'' Abdur-Rahman Mohmand.
Sow Flowers
by Rahman Baba
English version by Robert Sampson and Momin Khan
Original Language Pashto
Sow flowers to make a garden bloom around you,
The thorns you sow will prick your own feet.
Arrows shot at others
Will return to hit you as they fall.
You yourself will come to teeter on the lip
Of a well dug to undermine another.
Though you look at others with contempt,
It's you whose body will be reduced to dust.
Humanity is all one body;
To torture another is simply to wound yourself.
When you don't look for faults in others,
They will conceal your weaknesses in return.
Make your path straight now, by the bright light of day;
For pitch darkness will come without warning.
Consider no wickedness insignificant, however slight;
For the little deeds of darkness soon pile up.
If another does you harm, return them good;
Or evil will devour you too.
The heart that is safe in the storm
Is the one which carries
Others' burdens
Like a
Boat.
--
Antics of the Age
by Rahman Baba
English version by Jens Enevoldsen
Original Language Pashto
Contemplate the frantic
Efforts of the age
Countless are its antics
Boundless is its rage
Grieve in silence, brother!
Lest you keep your poise
Good men will be bothered
Evil men rejoice
Patience is a virtue
With the sweetest taste
When impatience hurts you,
Know, that haste is waste
Take on trust your fate if
You desire repose,
You would soon regret if
Something else you chose
Freedom cannot flourish
In your daily job
If a dream you nourish
Give your labour up
Falter shall the bustling
World, as I have said,
Should Rahman but trust in
What has got to fade?
--------
Sow Flowers
by Rahman Baba
English version by Robert Sampson and Momin Khan
Original Language Pashto
Sow flowers to make a garden bloom around you,
The thorns you sow will prick your own feet.
Arrows shot at others
Will return to hit you as they fall.
You yourself will come to teeter on the lip
Of a well dug to undermine another.
Though you look at others with contempt,
It's you whose body will be reduced to dust.
Humanity is all one body;
To torture another is simply to wound yourself.
When you don't look for faults in others,
They will conceal your weaknesses in return.
Make your path straight now, by the bright light of day;
For pitch darkness will come without warning.
Consider no wickedness insignificant, however slight;
For the little deeds of darkness soon pile up.
If another does you harm, return them good;
Or evil will devour you too.
The heart that is safe in the storm
Is the one which carries
Others' burdens
Like a
Boat.
--
Antics of the Age
by Rahman Baba
English version by Jens Enevoldsen
Original Language Pashto
Contemplate the frantic
Efforts of the age
Countless are its antics
Boundless is its rage
Grieve in silence, brother!
Lest you keep your poise
Good men will be bothered
Evil men rejoice
Patience is a virtue
With the sweetest taste
When impatience hurts you,
Know, that haste is waste
Take on trust your fate if
You desire repose,
You would soon regret if
Something else you chose
Freedom cannot flourish
In your daily job
If a dream you nourish
Give your labour up
Falter shall the bustling
World, as I have said,
Should Rahman but trust in
What has got to fade?
--------