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Title: The Colours of My Heart - Selected Poems; Author: Faiz Ahmed Faiz & Baran Farooqi (translator); Publisher: Penguin Random House; Pages: 304; Price: Rs 499
"Maqam, Faiz, koi raah mein jacha hi nahi/Jo kuu-e-yaar se nikle to suye-e-daar chale (No other stage on the way was suitable, Faiz/Emerging from the street of the beloved, I climbed the scaffold)".
The couplet showcases both passionate motifs -- romance and revolution -- that can be found in Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poetry but there is much more too.
There are many other stalwarts with mastery over both key forms -- the nazm and the ghazal -- of Urdu poetry, but only a few of them are remembered beyond the scholarly or (the rare) connoisseur set. It is Faiz's versatility, a talent for unique but stirring imagery, and a wide range of subjects (from anti-colonialism to reconciliation after civil war to justice) that helps explain why his name endures -- and why he remains relevant to our times.
"While Faiz is widely hailed as a poet of the revolution, it needs be stressed that his...