Al-Huda
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the Message Continues ... 4/148
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He sees
through his heart !
By Nasir Shamsi
(This paper, which is also the preface to Sajjad
Shamsi's book, " Gathering Shadows " was read on the eve of a
Grand Ceremony to introduce the author, organized at the house
of late Dr. Syed Haider Hussain Shamsi and Adiba Shamsi at
Demarest, New Jersey in 1995 ).
A few years ago I had the opportunity to see the author of this
anthology, Sajjad Shamsi, reciting poetry in front of a small
audience at his brother Dr. Haider Shamsi's house in Englewood,
New Jersey. Tall and handsome, and dressed in a faultless and
debonair style, the poet captivated the audience with a smooth
and sincere recitation of his poems. The impact of his poetry as
well as
its presentation is such that nobody can fail to feel his
presence in the room. The poet has quite instinctively, it
seems, put to use his God-gifted talent to overcome his handicap
that became a part of his life after an accident. The gift of
poetry has helped him to keep busy as well as give a message to,
and communicate with the people he can no longer see.
In the Introduction to his Urdu poetry book "IK JUNGLE INSANON
KA, Sajjad has said, "The sky is still blue and the grass as
green as ever. The garden also is full of flowers of myriad
colors, but alas, I am a captive in the prison of darkness and
loneliness and there is no other way to look beyond...".
Paradoxically, although he cannot see as a blind man, his
disposition did not keep
him from feeling a light or from seeing the things and visiting
the people and places which are indelibly preserved in his
memory .Even though his eyes are closed on the world, an inner
light, the light in his heart helps him see. It is this rare
quality to which the Saint Poet of the East, Iqbal has so
beautifully referred:
The Poet says:
Dile bina bhi kar khuda se talab
Aankh kA noor, dil kA noor nahin
(Bale Jibril)
" Pray to God that He gives you a heart that can see (Dil-e bina).
The light
in your eyes is not the light of your heart ".
Iqbal' s invocation seems to be inspired by the following verse
of Qur'an:
"Have they not traveled in the land so that they should have
hearts with which to understand, or ears with which to hear? For
surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the
hearts in (their) breasts". (al-Qur'an 22:46)
It was the light in the heart that illuminated the life of the
exemplary Helen Keller and gave her the ability to travel around
the world six times. Stricken by an illness when she was only 19
months old, she had permanently lost the ability to see, hear or
speak. Yet when she grew up, an inner light, the light of heart
enabled her to walk through what she called the "Valley of
Despond"
with courage. Through her books, travels and lectures around the
world, she tried in her words
"to be worthy of (bringing) of light to the souls of men who are
lost in the horror of great darkness" and a light to a "world
which is spiritually deaf and blind". (Light in My Darkness:
Helen Keller)
A poet asked Khalil Gibron, "Speak to us of Beauty". And he
answered: "it is not the image you see nor the song you hear,,
but rather an image you see though you close your eyes, and a
song you hear though you shut your ears".
Sajjad Shamsi reminds me of John Milton who lost his eye sight
at age 43. The great epic, "Paradise Lost" was written when he
could not see. In the third book (Paradise lost consists of 12
books), Milton, calls upon God to grant him an inward light so
that, illuminated, he may tell of things mortal men cannot see.
Once granted, this light enables a person to look within,
through
meditation, reflection and introspection. The inner self, rather
than the outer world becomes now a center of his attention. He
is able to see and hear what others cannot. James Laughlin
wrote, "Yes, even sunlight has its sound though only lovers are
likely to hear
.
The author of "Gathering Shadows" lives through his experience
of darkness and light every day. He lives in his past and its
memories. In his poetry,, he puts together a rosary of beautiful
images -some times happy, more often sad- which are revealed to
his rich and roaming imagination. "But little buds of sweet
memories still delight my unhappy heart" , he says in "The End
of The Road"
.His poems are filled with pathos and melancholy, which is
largely because of his having to deal with his personal
situation and very naturally he complains and bemoans why it had
to happen.
Lord I was not a common beggar
I sought Thy Grace, but received Thy Wrath
(Confusion)
And he cries in his free verse:
My lips are parched and dry Will they ever smile again
Shadows eclipse the fair face of the moon
Will the moonbeams never dance in the courtyard?
(Time Flies)
There is a longing, a wistful, perpetual longing to be able to
capture a fleeting glance of the faces and the places he loved
and adored. The intensity of his feeling, feeling to behold
anything, even a" grain of sand" is so great that it results in
radiant bursts of remarkable poetry which can touch the
mystical chords of a sensitive and perceptive soul:
Moses beheld the glory of the Lord on Mount Sinai
But to me every grain of sand is a mountain of revelation
(The Wax Doll)
Memories of the past haunt him, he perpetually lives in his
past. These memories are both beautiful and sad. The pain and
the anguish of his soul find frequent expressions in his verses.
Poem after poem flows from his pen, expressing his spiritual and
emotional heartbreak. However, this has made a new spirit of
creativity enter his soul and the result is a stream of
beautiful poetry .Sajjad paints a picture of the mind at work
rather than its objects. The more you look and reflect at the
picture, the more you will appreciate it. The quality of good
poem is that it acquires deeper meanings upon familiarity .Sajjad's
poetry is inspired by his inner most thoughts and emotions which
are expressed in a powerful style.
For example, read his poems, "Mi Mi" , "Diary" , "The Old Apple
Tree", and "Your Caress" more than once and reflect; you will
not escape the mystical impact. Talking of the mystical
experience, I have to lean again on the wisdom of Helen Keller,
whom I greatly admire. Having spent her life in darkness and
silence, she wrote this beautiful message, which I found
inscribed beneath her beautiful picture with a rose in her hand.
She had never seen a rose but she could feel it. Miss Keller
said:
" If you could enjoy the sun and flowers and music where there
is nothing
except darkness and silence you have proved the mystic sense ".
The poem, " Your Caress" is a masterpiece of poetic art which
can live for ever. Sajjad must have written this remarkable poem
in a moment of supreme tenderness. Shall I say that he created
the allegory of the "Rose Bud" to tell his own story? May be!
Now consider for a moment, the imagery, the picturesque
description, the richness of the poet's imagination. It goes
like this:
I was a petite rose bud
Green, and pink and cream
Wandering breezes cradled me in their arms .
The moon spread its silvery lace over my brow
And lulled me to sleep.
Isn't that beautiful? The "warm kiss of the golden sun" wakes
him up from slumber and he opens his eyes. "The world was
beautiful" and he smiled at the green lawn and the " carpet of
soft colors, pink and red and white suspended in mid air " .
And then:
Bees and wasps and brilliant butterflies lookedat me in
amazement,
Resting for a moment on my upturned lips
Sucking sweet nectar of my life and flying away.
Then:
I danced in ecstasy, and so did the entire garden
To the symphony of heavenly music.
Do you visualize that magnificent and happy scene ? Surely you
do. And watch
this:
Then a shadow fell across my face It was you, looking fondly at
me.
Your nimble fingers caressed my velvety cheak, Your soft lips
kissed my forehead.
But as always, "the happiness was short-lived ", the scene then
changes !
--then Next morning
I pined for your touch,
I yearned for your look, I was lonely
I lay on the dust.
What a sweet poetry ! how forceful! Knitting a chain of images,
one after the other, like Tennyson's "The Lady of Shallot".
The true art is judged by its ability to cause " suspension of
disbelief ".
Sajjad created a life-size hero in Rose-bud, with all human
feelings of pleasure and pain. We laugh and cry with him. Did
the poet transport you in a moment to that fairyland of forlorn,
that exquisite garden where happiness ruled supreme, and its
inmates "danced to the symphony of heavenly music"? He certainly
did! And when the scene changed and "the heart broke into petals
which fell
one by one", and "the lonely night quietly shed its tears" and
our fallen hero "lay in the dust", didn't we feel pathos and
sorrow for the Rose Bud? If you did, then " Caress " has all the
characteristics of a successful drama, and an artful play! This
is, without a doubt, a great piece of art! Sajjad Shamsi very
skillfully, though spontaneously, employs the use of simile,
metaphor and alliteration in his poem and this creates a
remarkable imagery of the kind we have just observed. Dominated
by love, ecstasy and loss, the poet ascends to the heights of
introspection to come to terms with his personal tragedy. While
reading his poems, I am reminded of Shelley's despondency and
Keats' fervent romanticism:
I am a shadow now, alas, alas!
Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling Alone: I chant alone
the holy mass,
While little sounds of life are around me knelling (Keats:
Isabella)
Sajjad' s poetry is simple, spontaneous and natural. There is
honesty in it.
He does not pretend, nor does he hide his feelings.
The poet fiercely hits at hypocrisy, greed and avarice. He
passionately feels for the poor and the less gifted. In his
poetry , his personal experience is enlarged to
The true art is judged by its ability to cause a "suspension of
disbelief".
Sajjad created a life-size hero in Rose-bud, with all human
feelings of pleasure and pain. We laugh and cry with him. Did
the poet transport you in a moment to that fairyland of forlorn,
that exquisite garden where happiness ruled supreme, and its
inmates "danced to the symphony of heavenly music"? He certainly
did! And when the scene changed and "the heart broke into petals
which fell
one by one", and "the lonely night quietly shed its tears" and
our fallen hero "lay in the dust", didn't we feel pathos and
sorrow for the Rose Bud? If you did, then "Caress" has all the
characteristics of a successful drama, and an artful play! This
is, without a doubt, a great piece of art! Sajjad Shamsi very
skillfully, though spontaneously, employs the use of simile,
metaphor and alliteration in his poem and this creates a
remarkable imagery of the kind we have just observed. Dominated
by love, ecstasy and loss, the poet ascends to the heights of
introspection to come to terms with his personal tragedy. While
reading his poems, I am reminded of Shelley's despondency and
Keats' fervent romanticism:
I am a shadow now, alas, alas!
Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling
Alone: I chant alone the holy mass,
While little sounds of life are around me knelling (Keats:
Isabella)
Sajjad's poetry is simple, spontaneous and natural. There is
honesty in it.
He does not pretend, nor does he hide his feelings. The poet
fiercely hits at hypocrisy, greed and avarice. He passionately
feels for the poor and the less gifted. In his poetry , his
personal experience is enlarged to speak for the collective
consciousness of the downtrodden, the unheeded, the underdog.
There is a humanitarian touch throughout his verse:
Do not scorn the entreaty of a needy heart
Treat the downtrodden with mercy and compassion
(Muffled Cries)
He yearns for a new world, where, "There would be no hunger, no
suffering, no unhappiness" and where "there would be song and
fragrance and music in the air ". There will be "colorful
blossoms" in the desert "and tyranny would be unheard of ".
(Wishful Thinking).
Sajjad Shamsi has a universal appeal. He laments destruction of
Lebanon, " where the angels once descended ( kiss thy blessed
brow" and asks what happened to " compassion, the humanity , the
affection among me (Lebanon).
Moved by the plight of a famine-stricken nation, questions the
Nature, "How will the babes in arms survive/ when even blood has
dried in the mother's breast (Ethiopia) .
Sajjad Shamsi' s poetry , like other poets and think and
philosophers, reflects development; it develops with changes in
his life, mostly the changes in his outlook respect of his
particular situation. Finally resigned to destiny, he lets his
spiritual and emotional pain assimilate the suffering of the
humanity at large. With a renewed faith in God, he gratefully
surrenders to His pleasure. In a relatively recent poem, "Why
Mourn II , he emerges like a "Born Again" Sajjad and declares in
all humility:
I have had a fair share of good things
Why should I not count my blessings?
I must renew my faith in the Lord
And tread in the light of His guidance.
Let me walk with Him confidentally
Let Him worry about my todays and tomorrows
(Why Mourn)
"Faith and love are gifts from the Lord", he says. And they are
"Worth living for and worth dying for" .(Faith and Love).
Inspired by the saying of his great ancestor Ali ibne Abi
Talib's, the cousin of Prophet Muhanmad (s), he wrote another
spiritual poem, which lays down the cardinal rules for a
righteous life:
Stop and think by word or deed
Did you hurt your neighbour
Or did you by kindly act
Bring joy and happiness to a sorrowing soul?
(Stop and Think)
I am grateful I was given the privilege to introduce this great
work of art and will like to conclude with a prayer from the
book:
Lord! Fill my begging bowl with Thy bounties
For I am a humble supplicant at Thy threshold.
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