TRANSLATED FROM THE URDU BY HUZAIFA PANDIT

It was the wedding night of Abu Lahab,
And Lord, what a night it was!
When the bride of Abu Lahab arrived
She carried firewood on her head and her neck
adorned with hissing snakes.
Neither she cared for nor called a beautician
Neither rouge nor powder on her cheeks
Snakes in her neck and firewood on her head
God, how strange was the wedding night of Abu Lahab.

The crowd gathered got furious, such was their rage
Like a tyrant’s whip lashing at a body
naked as a flame.
Neither the merry claps of young men
nor the dancing feet of young women
could be seen in the courtyard.
Neither song nor music could be heard.

When Abul Lahab saw this spectacle, he grabbed the reins
put on his spurs, and then there was no news of Abu Lahab.

When Abu Lahab was heard of next
Many a year had lapsed into the dust of history.
When Abu Lahab returned back to his country
having amassed the pearls and rubies of alien times
a thousand keen and curious eyes peered at him from old windows
and a dense crowd of young and old
jostled out from their houses to join the procession of Abu Lahab.
Abu Lahab – the victim of a wedding night,
A gust of the blistered sands of memory.
The apparition of that ruined love
Shouted out from the crowd: Abu Lahab.

You are the one whose bride came carrying firewood on her head
and wore snakes in her neck.

Abu Lahab hesitated a moment, grabbed the reins
Put on his spurs, no news ever came of Abu Lahab.

Also, read a book review of  Kalicalypse: Subcontinental Science Fiction, a dual language edition (English-Italian), edited by Tarun K. Saint, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, and  Francesco Verso, published in The Antonym

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