“What frenzy is this?” asks Kashmiri poet Zareef Ahmad Zareef. Known for his satirical poems, Zareef turns his gaze inwards here, recording the personal traumas of conflict.
He lives in downtown Srinagar, the older part of the city, which became a wellspring of the rebellion against the Indian state in the 1990s. Its neighbourhoods were ravaged by the militancy and the state crackdown that followed. In Zareef’s poem, the violence is internalised, becoming a part of the mindscape.
Daem phuit chi gaemits myaen nazar
yoot matsar kyah?
mei rov labith lol shahar
yoot matsar kyah?[My gaze has tired
What frenzy is this?
I lost the city of love I’d found,
What frenzy is this?]Poozai karaan aes gaemits vaens me tsayen
aeyov ti mei ma vuch na sahar
yoot matsar kyah?[I worshipped shadows all my life
Did I alone miss
the arrival of the dawn
What frenzy is this?]Mei khoon mailith sheesha patyan aaene baneyvim
aeseena panin paana khabar
yoot matsar kyah?[I smeared the glass with blood
to make mirrors
My image – a stranger
What frenzy is this?]Mei togh na parun kya chu leekhit posh deewaran
kael gaem tavay laen ashar
yoot matsar kyah?[I couldn’t read
the writing on floral walls
my lines of fate turned mute
What frenzy is this?]Sukrath me ahsaan karith gav ne, galath cha?
tyem myan hisukh chav na zahar
yoot matsar kyah?[Socrates did me no favour in leaving
I shouldn’t be saying this, but
He didn’t drink my share of poison
What frenzy is this?]Mei rov labith lol shahar
yoot matsar kyah?
daem phuit chi gaemits myaen nazar
yoot matsar kyah?[I’ve lost the city of love I’d found,
— What frenzy is this, Zareef Ahmad Zareef.
What frenzy is this
My gaze has tired
What frenzy is this?]
Zareef does a reading of the poem for Sanjay Kak’s 2007 documentary, Jashn-e-Azadi. While the poet reads, the reel cuts to images of uniformed men patrolling Kashmiri streets, to the bodies of young men, to bodies wrapped in shrouds. The poet keeps reading in a quiet voice, each verse building up to a question which becomes an indictment: “What frenzy is this?”
Read all the articles in the Art of Resistance series here.