The Bloody Mouth of Freedom
Translated by: Dr. Sharef Fayez

I don’t drink wine
my pain is sharper than what the wine can relieve
Simple ordinary reliever
relieve the pain that is light from the start
I was raised on a mountainside whose height
the local farmers use to measure the sunlight’s length
I was raised on a mountainside and drank flasks of stars
and slept on the moon lap
And on the loving wing of the sun
I flapped like a lover across the sky
I have given my soul to the mountains whose foreheads
the moon kisses at night and the sun does at dawn
Torrent of rivers start from the mountains of my land
The mountains of my land withstand the Desert Dusty Storms
to pitch their pavilions on their sunny tops.
The mountains of my land have always conquered history
and guarded freedom
I love my mountain land
with its hungry multitudes
My mountain land is a ferocious wounded lion and
its bloody wounds resemble
the bloody mouth of freedom shouting its great life
Let the driveling fools repeat their surrender in English terms
But as always I have a room in Ferdowsi castle
On whose door is written: “Freedom”

Peshawar, July 2002