Article
On translating Sara Shagufta
‘How Solitary Is the Moon’
November 18, 2013
When you read the poem, it becomes apparent that there is a deliberate omission of connecting words which creates a certain disconnect. This is not a common occurrence in Urdu poetry, but Sara Shagufta is often called a postmodernist poet.
The Urdu language has a natural flourish and sense of mystery and gesture to it which I have tried to maintain in the English. On that note, there is a word that the poet uses سایہ or ‘Saya’ in a few different ways. The word itself can mean not only a shadow, but also refuge, shade in a metaphorical sense, protection and also means being possessed by evil spirits.
There are many different conflicting versions of the life & times of the poet, all of which are replete with pain, strife, controversy ending ultimately with a tragic death widely believed as suicide. For these reasons, the word ‘Saya’ is interesting to me, for even though I have translated the word as shadow:
The shadow of a cage, is too an imprisonment
I continue to become the shadow of my clothing
and later a variation on the word in the form of چھاؤں or shade:
Should I tell you the name of my shade?
Some part of me wonders if the poet believed herself to be beset by evil spirits. This is something not uncommon in the subcontinent.
Night sky image © Suppakij1017 on Shutterstock
Translator and poet Sascha Aurora Akhtar introduces her translation of ‘How Solitary is the Moon’ by Sara Shagufta with a brief editor’s note
I chose to translate this poem because it exists within its own symbolic language which in turn exists in a series of statements. There is only one conjunction or connecting word in the whole poem. For this reason, I thought it important to include it in the translation. It is in the eighth line:
And I wake arising in the fires
When you read the poem, it becomes apparent that there is a deliberate omission of connecting words which creates a certain disconnect. This is not a common occurrence in Urdu poetry, but Sara Shagufta is often called a postmodernist poet.
The Urdu language has a natural flourish and sense of mystery and gesture to it which I have tried to maintain in the English. On that note, there is a word that the poet uses سایہ or ‘Saya’ in a few different ways. The word itself can mean not only a shadow, but also refuge, shade in a metaphorical sense, protection and also means being possessed by evil spirits.
There are many different conflicting versions of the life & times of the poet, all of which are replete with pain, strife, controversy ending ultimately with a tragic death widely believed as suicide. For these reasons, the word ‘Saya’ is interesting to me, for even though I have translated the word as shadow:
The shadow of a cage, is too an imprisonment
I continue to become the shadow of my clothing
and later a variation on the word in the form of چھاؤں or shade:
Should I tell you the name of my shade?
Some part of me wonders if the poet believed herself to be beset by evil spirits. This is something not uncommon in the subcontinent.
Night sky image © Suppakij1017 on Shutterstock
© Sascha Aurora Akhtar
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère