AMIR KHUSRO writes:
Cruel she is but don't call her that
Call her a lady though she is a brat
No one but her for me will do
Although she is a perfect shrew
I know a beauty who likes to boast
Of a beau to fry, and a lover to roast
When I fell in love, the preacher said
"She's a predator; you'll soon be dead
"You are a believer; she'll send you to hell
For she is a remorseless infidel
" Without her you will be in pain
And she will leave you again and again
"But you're in love; you've taken the bait
You must now, KHUSRO, resign to fate"
Affluent and Jovial, Amir Khusro, the thirteenth century Indian poet and musician, is a mystic and a romanticist par excellence. His interpretation of love’s musings is frivolous, fanciful, and lovely proving that love and poetry walk hand in hand --- always have and always will.
Heartfelt, playful and idealistic, the translator Shaida whips the current of romance to timeless bliss and swirls the tides in our favor. He recreates a world we all wish to embrace, one of accord, decency and love. Hurray to his mission, for without his English translations of great Persian and Urdu poets, such as Khusro, Hafiz, Ghalib, and Faiz, the literary world of English poetry would surely be poorer.
Born in Delhi, India, the translator, Khalid Hameed Shaida, MD was educated in Pakistan. He practiced medicine in both Canada and United States and upon his retirement in 2000 became interested in poetry and translated and published collections of Persian odes of the great masters, Khusro, Hafiz, Ghalib and Iqbal in his mother tongue of Urdu. Eight years later at the age of seventy eight, he developed interest in English poetry and has since translated and published the Persian and Urdu odes of Khusro, Hafiz, Ghalib, and Faiz in English. His two books of the English translation of Hafiz have become two of the most popular books of English Poetry in the world. Currently, he and his wife live quiet life in Friendswood, Texas.
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