TRUISMS (1978-1983)
JENNY HOLZER

http://handsell.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/truisms-1978-1983-jenny-holzer/

“I dreamt of heaven the other night, and pearly gates swung wide. An angel with halo bright, ushered me inside. And there to my astonishment, stood folks I’d judged and labelled as quite unfit, of ‘little worth’ and spiritually disabled. Indignant words rose to my lips, but never were set free, for every face showed stunned surprise, not one expected me!”

– Unknown.

A conversation dream

I asked her, She never asked why I like her

She asked Why?

I told her, I don't know

I really don't.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines
by Pablo Neruda

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

A Drinking Song

by William Butler Yeats

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

वोह कहाँ हैं

कुछ गवा हैं
और कुछ हवा हैं
हमें जिन पर ऐतबार था
वोह लोग कहाँ हैं?

उनकी ओर से आयें हैं सभी दोस्त मेरे
खरियत पुछा करते थे जो
वोह मेरे दोस्त कहाँ हैं?

हो गयी है रुसवा किस्मत भी
अब तोह मुझे पहचाने ऐसा भी कोई मौजूद नहीं
यार-इ-महबूब, तू कहाँ है?

छूट रही है आस
अब तोह मोमबत्ती बेचने वालों की
जलादे उम्मीद काफ़िर की कुटिया में
वोह लौ कहाँ है?

Under the Flyover

She looked into his eyes and said - we are such similar creatures, you and I, aren’t we?

No, we are not - he replied, much to her surprise, then looking away at the passing bus, he said - you are lost, while I am abandoned.

आज

आज जो खरीदे नए जूते, तोह कल के वोह फटे हुए मोजे याद आये
अमीरी के दिनों में, वोह गरीबी के दिन बोहत याद आये

मैं सोचता था की मैं नहीं बदलूँगा
मगर उस उभरते चेहरे में, हम कहीं नज़र नहीं आये

बादल हटे तोह जाना की हम आसमा में हैं
वरना ज़मीन पे इस कदर मजबूर, तुम्हारे पास हम कभी नहीं आये

एक बात

दूर तलक जाती तोह है
मगर सुनाई नहीं देती
मेरी आवाज़ है तोह बुलंद
बस असर नहीं करती...

राहों के कांटे अब
जूतों की खाल बन चुके हैं
तेज़ रफ़्तार तोह है मेरे पास
बस कहीं ले नहीं जाती...

आँखें मूँद लेता हूँ
कभी किस्मत पे हस लेता हूँ
दिल तोह बेहेल जाता है इन तरकीबों से
बस नींद नहीं आती...

Are we intellectual souls or are we just something somebody told?

Emptiness












.

तेरी बाहें

मद्धम मद्धम सी रौशनी है

मैं खीचा चला जा रहा हूँ कहीं

महफ़िल कहीं और ही जमी है

नींद है हलकी हलकी सी पलकों में

आँखें भी खुली है कम कम

सोचता हूँ रात यहीं रुक जाऊं

फिर सोंचता हूँ, काश सुबह न हो हमदम

तेरी बाहों में जहाँ कुछ ऐसा लगता है

जानता हूँ झूट बोल रहा है

मगर वोह धोकेबाज़ भी सचा लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

सुबह हसीन लगने लगती है

वीरान गलियों में

एक अजीब सी बस्ती लगने लगती है

त्राफ्फिक का शोर संगीत लगने लगता है

माकन मालिक की गाली भी

गुलज़ार का लिखा गीत लगने लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

ऐसी रात फिर न आयेगी

ओढले मुझे यहाँ…

ऐसी महफ़िल फिर जमने न पायेगी

सीमेटले मुझे यहाँ…

छुडाले मुझे मेरी ही गिरफ्त से

इस से पहले की मुझे धूंदले जहाँ…

इन गुज़रते पलों के बीच

गुज़रता हर पल अब मुझे कम लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

तेरी बाहों में ज़िन्दगी जीने का

हर बार नया चस्का लगता है

Tell me, did you stop writing, because they stopped reading?

Goodbyes

Some hearts never mend
You may walk through and through
Still…
Some turns never bend

It’s a distant dream, of a not so distant past
Wake up to the reality boy,
Lives don’t end…
That fast

And you will learn to live like this
Dealing in open hearts
With…
Clenched fists

Remember, in life there are no goodbyes
Only some better off truths
And some…
Very bitter lies

My loudest poem

My loudest poem
Is but only a silent cry
To shout out loud
Of all that is silent inside
Will I overcome?
The blackness in the dark
To show the bright silver white
(Which is not even a part of any –
Cloud or some wishful lining)
It is only me –
That you found
A moment before
I finally gave up hiding

There in in the dark of the light

Is flashing the armor of my soul, shining bright

And the only way to meet her is to meet her in the eye

You will see some parts of the forgotten art, satisfiyed

Don’t leave just yet

The boat is still, only the rower is wrecked

And every heart crumbles when cometh the night

In the uncovered moon you see clearly

You were wrong and yes she was right

And there are no regrets, only aspirations unfulfilled

Some luck lost, some hopes trifled

So steady the glass and drink that wine

Soul is thirsting long to feel a bit alive

Sleep now into the time

And if you dream still, of the past begone

Then know fully well –

Life is just not your song

तनहा - जावेद अख्तर

देखिये तो लगता है
ज़िन्दगी की राहों में
एक भीड़ चलती है
सोचिये तो लगता है
भीड़ में है सब तनहा

जितने भी ये रिश्ते हैं
कांच के खिलोने है
पल में टूट सकते हैं
एक पल में हो जाए
कोई जाने कब तनहा

देखिये तो लगता है
जैसे ये जो दुनिया है
कितनी रंगीन महफ़िल है
सोचिये तो लगता है
कितना गम है दुनिया में
कितना ज़ख़्मी हर दिल है
वो जो मुस्कुराते थे
जो किसीको ख़्वाबों में
अपने पास पाते थे
उनकी नींद टूटी है
और हैं वो अब तनहा

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot।
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.

Where were you?

Wearing pink pajamas with polka dots

In the middle of the routine and on the trot

You visit a strip tease bar

And you are surprised

You are sitting beside the pole

Where you see a Dancing Life

It is beautiful

It is happy

But mostly it is free

You begin to wonder could she be, really me?

The music fades

Even the lights go dim

You order for a green apple vodka

Cancel the gin

The crowd seems to react to your life’s every move

You care a lot, but your life

She doesn’t change a move

You give up and stay put for the night

Holding a spoon in the left and a fork in the right

When all of a sudden it strikes you

All this while where were you

Where were you?

You turn around

And there you see your favorite lover

He is the man with many faces but just one cover

One can tell he is handsome

One can tell he is gay

You are just glad he doesn’t know that you’re there

You are hiding under the table staring at your muddy boots

When all of a sudden it strikes you

All this while where were you

Where were you?

You leave the bar

With your arms stretched waving at every passing cab

Nothing that moves ever stops

And you start to take a brisk walk

Cursing your life for all its glee

A strange respite you know you shall never feel

Your eyes glance upon a hoarding with a face covered in red

Just like you, she is a model, reported to be dead

You start admiring the smile on her face

More lively than any living thing on that morose street

When all of a sudden it strikes you

All this while where were you

Where were you?

somewhere on the streets somebody is feeling this. i think.

fuck u.
u mother.
fucker.
who made you this famous i wonder.
oh wait.
i think i remember.
it was me and a few other.
and now you are all over the place.
plasted on the muddy walls.
in the loo.
outside the malls.
in the gutter.
you are everywhere and in my face.
with me here cursing my fate.
was i a bit too late.
to know and say.
fuck u.
u mother.
fucker.
who made you this famous i wonder.
oh wait.
i think i remember.
it was me and a few other.
and now you are all over the place.
plasted on the muddy walls.
in the loo.
outside the malls.
in the gutter.
you are everywhere and in my face.
with me here cursing my fate.
was i a bit too late.
to know and say.
fuck u.
u mother.
fucker.