Best Egalitarian Poems
( A Translation of Kazi Nazrul Islam's famous Bengali poem "Samyabadi")
I sing the song of equality,
in which all obstacles and distance are dissolved,
in which the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Muslims
and the Christians have got united.
I sing the song of equality!
Who are you? A Persian? A Jain? A Jew?
A Santhal, a Bhil, a Garo?
A Confucian? A follower of Charbak? Continue. Tell more.
O friend, whoever you are,
whatever books and scriptures you carry
into stomach, on back, on shoulder and into brain,
the Quran, the Puranas, the Vedas, the Bible, the Tripitaka—
the Zend-Avestha, the Granth Sahib—
read as much as you desire.
But why do you waste your labour?
Why are you throwing spears into your brain?
Why do you haggle in a shop when fresh flowers
bloom at your roadside?
The wisdom of all scriptures and ages lie within you.
O friend, open your heart, you will find all scriptures there.
Within you lie all religions, all the prophets of all ages
and your heart is the world-temple of everyone’s gods.
Why do you look for God in the skeletons of dead books?
He smiles into the secret concealment of your immortal heart!
O friend, I have not told a lie—
It is the place where all crowns tumble and toss.
This very heart is the Nilachal, Kashi, Mathura, Brindaban;
It is Bodh-Gaya, Jerusalem, Medina and Kaaba.
It is the mosque, it is the temple, it is the church;
Sitting here, Jesus and Moses found the identity of truth.
In this battlefield, the young flute player sang the Bhagavad Gita;
In this pasture, the sheep-grazing prophets became friends to God.
Sitting in the meditation-cave of this heart, Shakyamuni abandoned his kingdom hearing the call of men’s great sufferings.
In this cave, the Prince of Arabia used to hear the divine call;
sitting here, he sang the Quran’s equality-song.
O brother, what I have heard is not a lie—
there is no temple, no Kaaba greater than this heart.
Translation date: 1/3/2016 Sirajganj, Bangladesh
A merry band to profer hope in the land
A lute, fiddle, drum to make brigandry grand
A staff, bow, arrow to strafe the noble strand
A sworn oath to lawful king; a sword to gentry's overbearing hand
A pruning staff to fleece corrupt shepherds, who saintly flock's fodder have panned
A bow and arrow to poach servile game from royal tableland
A fealty to nature's law; a license the privileged class to brand
A Kangaroo court dispensing arbitrary justice to tenured gentry in the lowland
A pauper's lease, tattered remnant to expand
A squatter's right, doled penury to remand
An opportunistic syndicate confiscating hoarded supplies to reduce growing demand
A marauding troop of mercenaries liberally sharing their contraband
A providential broker, allocating pilfered alms poverty to withstand
When the unjust people change colors
& we do not see the justice we are pleased with
We do not see our guardians as helpers
We cling to the right
Appoint fairness to our kingdom
Justice as the queen
Equality as the king
We title our nation
EGALITARIAN
(2)
Infidels does not remain
Justice is the highest value
Fairness is the foundation of our property
Like stars in the dark
We rise above parties & nations
We go to war with injustice
Slaughter the unjust
Raise their heads to the sky
For the Lord avenger
Swear victory upon equality
That is the world where I hail from
The EGALITARIAN world
BELLO ABDUL MU’MEEN AYIKI
What did it mean to be human?
What does it mean to be human?
What will it mean to be human?
Humanity has fought and clawed its way to the current.
Wars and superstitions filled our hearts and minds.
King of the mountain was the game we played, knocking down all
who got in the way. Climbing the ladder, success at any costs.
Stepping on and over people was the rule of the day.
Many of these games we still played today. Yet things are evolving.
The masses today have power and influence like never before.
The global community is connected. We communicate instantly around the world. Topography and distances that kept us apart, that had us socially evolve in many different ways, now melting away. Inequalities still exists, that is for sure. Those in power want to hold on and keep it that way; but through technology humanity writ large will begin to hold sway. As the future becomes the now, humanity increasingly will socially and globally interact, our differences will slowly give way. The commonality of humanity will begin to win the day. Humans are equal and should be treated that way.
India’s caste still decides our dignity—
Not just apathy, but our lived condition,
We react the moment we perceive another’s identity.
The rage of symbols distracts us;
Language flares—
Wounding the non-native.
Our sphere dreams of “Viksit Bharat”,
But it doesn’t rhyme with reality—
We still breathe in the same old Bharat,
With the same claims, yet to combat (discrimination).
As we undergo vicissitudes, knowledge of boundless skies—
Which uplifts us every single time
Like bilingual voices flowing into a multilingual style,
Soaking every vein of mine.
So—educate! Agitate! Liberate!
For in the human rage of this world,
We are sunken in discrimination, differentiation, and segregation;
At every stage.
Come—let us do good, be good,
And stand as one among others.