Tchu Misri – Quatrains on the 2016 Uprising in Kashmir

Original Nazm by Zareef Ahmad Zareef, translated by Ather Zia.

Tchu Misri Quatrains
Dilawar syean temney kith shather chem
pyemeth watnass mye yem tosas ae’ther chem
Che yem azeh myeni chamneik posh putchnan
Temen muleh kadneh dramit yemh pothar chem


Karneh wadoah wai petran gam te doakh
Loleh watnass khuneh sagwaan lala roakh
Yemeh dilawar azaeh che paghas gashraaan
Raeatch pateh pholeh noor sahruk jal wet’chak


yem karaan gulmoeth watnass touth zuw

hum wanan yemney che sangbaaz jangju
kanni yihinz batheh tchani tyankan, mandche gun
tauf khanan shurr mokabaleh doo-ba-du”

Waq chu azmawaan akher poz pazan
Gaeb manz ditch hatfi Sabena azaan
Akh banth Haq mangni ase dramit che az
Houl gandith khutoon shurr peero jawaan

Khasaan Akhtab chum daden atchaan zoow
Khamaan zalim gatchan pretthh tarfeh hoo hoo
Karew kotah zulum aseh-seeth manddchew
Magar temeh pateh te dyun aseh haq panun chyuww

Our brave-hearts are formidable adversaries to them
Those who ate through my land [like moths through pashmina]
Those who today are crushing the flowers of my garden
My sons are out to uproot them

Why would I not lament, and suffer these agonies
My beloved land watered by blood of the flower-faced ones
Those bravehearts are lighting our tomorrow
After this night, there will be a dawn, you will soon see


They [who] are gifting life to their country

Those [enemy’s] are calling them stone-throwers-militants
Their stones will dent their tanks; their guns will be shamefaced
Their [enemies] arsenals are facing my thronging young children

Time tests, but truth comes through
Hatfi, the helper from the Unseen, has called for prayers
Becoming one people today, we have called for our right
Battle-ready; women, children, old and youth

My ailments resurrect with the rising sun
As the tyrant bellows, laments resound all round me
Tyranny that you dispense on us will shame you
Despite everything, you will have to give us our right

Leave a Comment