The poem below has been adapted from the song “Meri Duniya Lut Rahi Thi”. The song is from a 1955 film directed by Guru Dutt titled ‘Mr. & Mrs. 55’. The lyrics of the song were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri (1919-2000), an acclaimed Urdu poet who was associated with the Progressive Writer’s Movement. Sultanpuri has the distinction of being the only lyricist to win the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in the field of cinema.
I watched in silence
as all around me
the world was being shattered
in silence I watched
as it shattered
its shards
the fragments of my heart
lay scattered
I was bereft
yearning to be whole
were these the lost fragments of my soul?
and in this bedlam
which fragment would I choose?
which would I lose?
which would I find to make me whole?
my tears are dry
the burning heart
still burns
like a body on the burning ghat
desire has died
it died a tearful death–
this heart of mine
I wish I knew all this while
how not to lose my mind
and now it is too late
to be awake
to live life
in death’s wake
and in this bedlam
which fragment would I choose?
which would I lose?
which would I find to make me whole?
I watched in silence
as all around me
the world was being shattered
In silence I watched
as it shattered
its shards
the fragments of my heart
lay scattered
this is not the tale of a mind in flight:
the shadows had lengthened into the night
when in this alley with darkening light
the footsteps of a lover were heard
it is said that he was plundered
it was unseen, his fateful plight
and even the earth had conspired
with the silence of the night
and even the skies had conspired
with the silence of the night
and in this bedlam
which fragment would I choose?
which would I lose?
which would I find to make me whole?
I watched in silence
as all around me
the world was being shattered
in silence I watched
as it shattered
its shards
the fragments of my heart
lay scattered
the caravan of my heart is plundered
the beating heart is sundered
it is I who has conspired
it is I who had once set out to reach
the other side
the golden beach
near its shores I have now sunk my ship
the beating heart is sundered
it is I who has conspired
what could I have done?
I was drunk on the nectar of love
of a plundered love
with nowhere left to run
and in this bedlam
which fragment would I choose?
which would I lose?
which would I find to make me whole?
I watched in silence
as all around me
the world was being shattered
In silence I watched
as it shattered
its shards
the fragments of my heart
lay scattered
Jaya Brata Bose is a writer of short stories and poems. He was born in Kolkata.
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