A poem at the heart of Bamiyarra

Poems are invaluable to the Hazara. Many young are taught a number of quatrains when young and carry the tradition of re-telling them into their elder years. Some, like Aziz Fayaz, are prolific poets. This, one of Aziz’s poems, a Hazara based in Kabul, has become increasingly important to Bamiyarra and is featured in the Not So Still(s) exhibition.

Consume me FISH! All my body parts
I am country-less, homeless and I have no one.

I have no heart, it is left behind
Consume my limbs that are remaining

Gave my heart to this world, what has it done?
Entered the sea, what has it done?

Grief took my livelihood away
Generosity of the sea took half of my life away.

My shovel and tools are left behind
Yet my foot-prints evoke memories of me.

Oh sea! Hear my heartache
You do not have a heart to feel my pain.

There is no one to wish me farewell
There is no eye awaiting my return.

Consume parts of my body
My eyes, ears, kidneys and head.

My child will live with my memories
In my absence, he will find comfort in them.

Worry not sea, long live your creatures
Long live the rocks and stones that have replaced my heart.

Visible are the reptile bite-marks on my body
Shattered are my life long hopes and dreams.

This is what happened, when I gave my heart to the sea
Look at me and my lifeless body.

No more is there, life in my body
No more are there, tears in my eyes.

By Aziz Fayaz