Books like The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems

The Rebel's Silhouette is a collection of poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of the most famous Urdu poets, translated by Agha Shahid Ali, many of them written while Mr. Faiz was in prison. The word "Beloved" is often used in poetry and ghazals to refer to either a lover or to God. What the brilliant Mr. Faiz does (ably translated by Mr. Ali, fabulous poet himself) is weave in the idea of revolution - the Rebel becomes another incarnation of the Beloved. What comes of it is a series of beautiful lamentations about the treacheries of love and war, and the desolations ensuing."Each road,each street seems viciously trapped, a prisonerwith no milestone, no destination,and no occasion for fidelity."- The City from HereMr. Ali writes a fascinating introduction about translation, first languages versus mother tongues (he distinguishes these), and what poetry and song mean to each other, and to art and civilisation. For his translations, he chooses a free form structure in English (the Urdu is present on the facing page), but there is yet rhythm and rhyme in every stanza, and so much beauty."And be careful, they said, take care of the heart.It still has to breakopen into a thousand different wounds. It still has to know knife after knife after knife."- Wash the Blood Off Your FeetAnd this is my favourite poem from the volume: Before You CameBefore you came,things were as they should be:the sky was the dead-end of sight,the road was merely a road, wine merely wine.Now everything is like my heart,a colour at the edge of blood:the grey of your absence, the colour of poison, of thorns,the gold when we meet, the season ablaze,the yellow of autumn, the red of flowers, of flames,and the black when you cover the earthwith the coal of dead fires.And the sky, the road, the glass of wine?The sky is a shirt wet with tears,the road a vein about to break,and the glass of wine a mirror in whichthe sky, the road, the world keep changing.Don't leave now that you're here-Stay. So the world may become like itself again:so the sky may be the sky,the road a road,and the glass of wine not a mirror, just a glass of wine.