Neeyat-e-Shauq Bhar Na Jaaye Kaheen - From Vineeta Sastry

Noor Jahan


Asha Bhonsle

Lyrics: Nasir Kazmi

Neeyat-E Shauq bhar na jaye kahin
Tu b dil se uthar na jaye kahi

Aaj dekha hai tujh ko dher k baad
Aaj ka din guzar na jaye kahi

Na mila kar udhas laugo se!
Husan tera bikar na jaye kahi

Aarzo hai ke tu yahaan aaye
Aur phir umer bhar na jaye kahi

Jee jalata hoo aur sochta hoon
Raigaa ye hunar na jaye kahi

Aao kuch dher ro he lay Nasir
Pir ye darya uthar na jaye kahi...n

Nasir Kazmi
Nasir Raza Kazmi is one of the greatest poets of this era, especially in the use of "istha'aaray" (metaphors) and "chhoTii behr" (small meter). He was born On Dec. 8, 1925 at Ambala. He did some journalistic work with "Auraq-e-Nau" and became chief editor of the magazine "Humayun" in 1952-53. Later he was associated with Radio Pakistan, Lahore and other literary publications and organisations. Nasi Kazmi was a great admirer of Meer Taqi Meer and probably the melancholy and "Ehsaas-e-Mehroomi" in his poetry was a direct result of that. His tutor in poetry was Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, who himself used a lot of symbols from nature in his poems.

His rich body of work includes Barg-e-Nae (1952), Deewaan (1972), Pehli Baarish (1975), Nishat-e-Khwab (Collection of nazms, 1977), Sur Ki Chhaya (Drama, 1981), Khushk Chashme ke Kinare (Prose, 1982). The last four tragically were published after his death in Lahore on March 2, 1972 due to tuberculosis. Few people know that he did some great translations of English poets, especially his translation of Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry " as "Brooklyn Ghaat Ke Paar" is a real masterpiece and worth reading.

Compiled by Akber Zaidi for Aligarians.com

Ghazals & Nazms Of Nasir Kazmi:

be minnat-e-Khizr-e-raah rahnaa
dil meN ek lehar sii uThii hai abhii
dukh kii lehar ne chheRaa hogaa
fikr-e-taameer-e-aashiaN bhi hai
jab raat gaye tiri yaad aayii, sau tareh se jii ko behlaaya
jurm-e-inkaar kii sazaa hii de
karta use beqarar kuch der
kaun is raah se guzartaa hai
kise dekhein kahaaN dekha na jaye
ko'ii jiye yaa ko'ii mare
naaz-e-be-gaangii meN kyaa kuch thaa
O ! mere masruuf Khudaa
rang barsaat ne bhare kuch to
tanhaa ishq ke khwaab na bun
tere aane kaa dhokaa saa rahaa hai
terii zulfoN ke bikharne kaa sabab hai ko'ii
yaas meN jab kabhii aaNsuu niklaa

LITERARY NOTES: Remembering Nasir Kazmi
By Intizar Husain

Pakistan Academy of Letters’ latest publication is a volume on Nasir Kazmi compiled by his son, Basir Kazmi. We were introduced to this volume in an inaugural function organised by the Academy in its auditorium. The function was attended by the poet’s friends, admirers, and readers of poetry in general. Among those who spoke on the occasion were Basir Kazmi, Kishwar Naheed, Iftikhar Arif, and myself.

Basir Sultan Kazmi had himself achieved much in the field of writing. On the basis of his own achievements, both as a poet and a prose writer, he well deserved to be entrusted with the job of compiling a suitable volume about Nasir Kazmi.

Nasir Kazmi was among those few poets whose personalities are so involved with their poetry that it is hard to separate one from the other. His was a life creatively lived.

Nasir Kazmi was among those few poets whose personalities are so involved with their poetry that it is hard to separate one from the other. His was a life creatively lived. I am saying this with particular reference to his early period, which may be determined as beginning with the late years of the 1940s and ending with the decade of ’50s. I recall his nightlong wanderings when his creativity was at its height. In these years he did not simply write poetry. He lived it. His first collection is a faithful record of his life as he lived it at that time.

His next collection speaks of the next phase in his life. He was by then a married man and those close to him were trying hard to convince him that poetry is not enough in life, and that poets too, howsoever devoted to their creative experience, stand in need to make certain compromises with the realities of life in order to keep body and soul together.

He did make compromises to the extent that he cared to carry on with the jobs arranged for him by his well-wishers. In consequence we see a balance emerging between Nasir the family man and Nasir the poet.

This balance in turn led to a maturity of mind which helped him to discipline his poetic talent. Keeping away from ghazal for a time, he decided to write a play in verse. The play, Sur ki Chaya is an achievement apart from his poetry.

Soon after writing the play he made a bold experiment in the domain of ghazal. The ghazals collected under the title Pehli Barish bring before us a continuity hitherto unknown to the form of ghazal. These ghazals taken together may be seen as an attempt to recapture a whole experience. They take the form of a sad remembrance of a sweet relationship, which is now a thing of the past.

This was the last phase of Nasir’s creative journey, wherein he appears to have come far away from the stages we see in Berg-i-nai and Diwan. But unfortunately, most of his admirers and critics give the impression that they have stopped short at the ghazals of Diwan.