Monologue of Mesquite Tree

By Qasum Faraz, Translated by Mujeeb Azad

I turn yellow—

I flicker green—

Like water blistering to light,

Like fire at midnight,

On an empty street,

Running—

Barefoot.

My body is a Tree-Tag of prayers:

Tattered clothes,

Knotted in windless hush.

A thousand leaves

Have broken off

In silence.

A thousand branches—

Taken.

For the sweet lantern,

For tomorrow’s blue sea,

I heard the whispers of travelers,

Coming from far, far away—

‘The delicate manifestation of God—

The angles,

The prophets—

Have given me insights.

The saints and mentor

Have traveled within me.

A shepherd,

With a laugh

Has seen me Flying

And heard me

Speak in winds.’

As far as I can recall,

Not a light ever strutted here,

Nor the melody of Soroz.

We were but two trees:

I, the mesquite tree,

And a long, straight-haired oak

Rubbed with the sweetest nectar.

Oh! Beloved oak tree,

In the time when rain soaked you,

You became a green horse,

And I, the knight,

Rode you through the endless night.

What lands did we not cross?

But where is your body now?

After such long travel,

The old and ancient sky

Has changed the land and sea.

Now that you have come—

Why wouldn’t you bring yourself?

A moment:

Delicate, intoxicated dream,

A drop of calmness

In the curve of pleasure—

And then,

You departed.

Those camel riders, those travelers,

Bearing foods and presents—

Sweet nectar in safekeeping—

The whisper, the laughter, the cries,

Bread baked in sand

On dwarf palm sticks—

Take all of it,

And lay it out upon the sheet.

And the dogs from far-off villages—

Bark no more.

___________________________________

Mujeeb Azad was born in 1990 in Turbat, Balochistan. He has published some of his short fiction in various Balochi Magazines. He translated Waiting For Godot into Balochi, which was published by the Balochistan Academy, Turbat, in 2024. He has translated a Balochi poem, "Extract" by Munir Momin, which was published in Legacies of Loss: An Anthology in 2019.  He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy and Literature.

Qasum Faraz was born on 4 June 1982, in Turbat, Balochistan. He started his studies in his hometown of Singanisar. He holds an English Literature degree from Balochistan University. His first book, entitled "My Some Verses," was published in 2008, and "My Second Collection of Verses" was published in 2015 in Balochi Language.