The Unsaid Word

[Last Island]

(Translation of Harf e Na Gufta by N. M. Rashid)

Of the trouble the unsaid word may bring, beware!
When the tongues of flames lick
The streets and lanes, housetops and doors,
And one keeps silent, tongue-tied,
Of such a sinner, beware!

Be it the city police-chief
Or a man of the king,
If he says
"Don't move your lips",
You move your lips,
Not only that,
Move your arms and hands as well;
Make them your tongue that speaks
Raise a cry that may live forever!
Of the ways of men of the royal court, beware!
Their moments are not define!

The moment that flies past the unsaid word
Is the far end of the night of time!
Ah that venom that runs in the centuries' veins
And which has no antidote of it!
Of the spreading symptoms of that venom today,
Beware!
Of the trouble the unsaid word may bring, beware!