In this world
where many goblets, glasses, pearls are made
Each thing can be replaced
Each pocket filled.
Reach out and you will find
Look up and you shall see
There is no end to treasures here
No matter if robbers abound!
The shops of existence
Are never emptied by those who grab
There are diamonds in every hill
There are pearls in every ocean.
There are some who keep
Putting fences up
They auction each mountain and each river
But there are others who resist
And tear these fences down
There is a battle going on
In every land and every city
In every heart
And every street between the two.
One spreads darkness
The other spreads light
One sets things on fire
The other extinguishes the fire
In this struggle,
Everything is staked:
The glasses, goblets, rubies, all.
Rise up! From this battle,
To the empty handed, comes til call!
From Faiz: selected and translated by Mahmood Jamal (2013)