Mohammad Zahid – Značenje moje tišine (Mili Dueli 2023 – Grand Final)

ZNAČENJE MOJE TIŠINE

Nikad ne pitaj što mi znači tišina.
Nemoj, nikada.
Pitanje će ostati neodgovoreno.
Jesi li ikada zalutala šumom u sumrak;
gdje duhovi visokih gustih borova
igraju se žmurke kao vilinske svjetiljke,
gdje čak i zvuk tvog daha plaši
i šuškanje koraka proganja
srčane otkucaje, dok na trenutak prestanu,
dok se bojiš čak i pogledati unazad?
Takva je moja tišina.

Nikad ne pitaj što mi znači tišina.
Nemoj, nikada.
Možda nećeš razumjeti njene slogove.
Jesi li ikada potonula u dubine okeana;
gdje mutna svjetlost polako blijedi u tamu
a zatim u bezdan nepoznatih prostora
gdje sjene čudovišnih stvorenja
prolaze i svjedoče tvom padu u pećine bezdana
u kojima se tama stapa s gluvoćom
i sve što vidiš je ništa?
Takva je moja tišina.

Nikad ne pitaj što mi znači tišina.
Nemoj, nikada.
Zvuk moje tišine
je krik koji može ogluvjeti
svakoga ko pozajmi uvo;
njene dimenzije su izvan dosega
strpljenja,
možeš naslutiti predaju srca
koje je nosi.
Nikad ne pitaj što mi znači tišina.
Nemoj, nikada.

Translated to Montenegrin by Anđela Turukalo Dabetić
…………………………………………….

The Meaning of My Silence

Don’t ever ask, what my silence means.
Don’t even ever.
Your questions shall fall short.
Have you ever been lost in the woods at twilight;
where the specters of tall dense pines
play hide and seek like the will-o-wisps,
where even the sound of your breath is scarring
and the rustle of the footsteps haunts
the heartbeats, whereby they cease for a while,
while you feel afraid of even looking back?
Such is my silence

Don’t ever ask, what my silence means.
Don’t even ever.
You may not comprehend its syllables
Have you ever drowned in the depths of the oceans;
where the hazy light slowly fades into darkness
thereafter into the abyss of unknown realms
where the shadows of monstrous creatures
glide past and witness your fall into the cavernous caves
wherein the darkness fuses with deafness
and all you see is naught?
Such is my silence

Don’t ever ask, what my silence means.
Don’t even ever.
The sound of my silence
is a shriek that may deafen
anyone who lends an ear;
its dimensions are beyond the
range of forbearance,
you may guess the resignation of the heart
that carries it along.
Don’t ever ask, what my silence means.
Don’t even ever.

Mohammad Zahid’s first poetry collection titled The Pheromone Trail bagged the Best Book Award from the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Jammu & Kashmir in 2015, and was favourably read and reviewed widely.
He has also translated two volumes of the landmark work Kashmiri Zuban Aur Shayiri by Abdul Ahad Azad into English, commissioned by the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Jammu & Kashmir. He has also translated a collection of essays Aaena Khana by Aziz Hajini into English, apart from a monograph on the Kashmiri poet, Abdul Raheem Aama published by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. More recently, he was a recipient of the Jibananda Dass Poetry Translation Award, conferred by the Kolkata Poetry Confluence, in 2022, for his translation of the poems of Naseem Shifai. His latest poetry collection Graffiti of Dreams is being published by The Writers Workshop Kolkatta, India in 2023.
Zahid’s poems have appeared in various print and e-journals like Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, Muse India, The Ghazal Page (USA), Eastern Structures (Canada), Spilling Cocoa Over Martin Amis (USA), The Thomas Hardy Society (UK), Maulana Azad Journal of English Language and Literature, Sheeraza, and The Antonym. His poems have appeared in various anthologies such as Timescapes published by Unison Publications, 2010, Palestine, published by The Inner Child Press USA, 2019, Winter is Coming Edited by Gino Leineweber and published by Verlag Expeditionen Germany 2020, Paradise on Earth edited by Stefan Bohdan and published by The Inner Child Press USA, 2021, Rivers Going Home edited by Ashwani Kumar and published by Red River, 2022. The Spanish translation of his poems was included in Antología – Gestos de la Poesía 2022 published by the Cultural Centre of Universidad de Los Andes, Columbia.
He has been regularly invited to National and International Poetry Festivals and conclaves, as The Hyderabad Literary Festival, International Poetry Festivals at Guntur, Vijayawada, World Peace Meet Kolkata, and Ipoh, Malaysia during the Pulara 9 poetry festival 2019.
He is the translation editor at Muse India and The Lakeview International Journal of Language and Literature. Apart from his poetic meanderings, He also talks to his surroundings through his camera lenses, capturing his sensitive perception of life and nature in pixels. He is a banker by profession.

The overall scenario the world over is the gradual erosion of tolerance towards fellow beings, defined by differences in race, colour, gender, religion, languages and economic disparity. The world is gradually becoming a narrower place to practice thoughts that rise above these differentiating factors. There remains hope still, that saner voices may some day be heard, however feeble they might be as of now. Poetry is one such voice that keeps the glimmer of hope alive.

Poetry Collections
Have two published poetry collections:

1. The Pheromone Trail : 2013 Published by Cyberwit, India
2. Graffiti of Dreams : 2023 Writers Workshop, India (In Press)

Translations
Have translated the following literary works from Kashmiri/Urdu to English
1. Kashmiri Language and Poetry Volume I published by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages (2017)
2. Kashmiri Language and Poetry Volume III published by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages (2023) In Press
3. The Hall of Mirrors, English Translation of Aan-e-Khana, Sahitya Akademy Award winning collection of essays on Kashmiri Criticism by Aziz Hajini published by Sahitya Akademi (2018)
4. Monograph on blind Kashmiri poet Abdul Rahim Aama by Marghoob Banihali, as a part of the series Makers of Indian Literature, published by Sahitya Akademi (2021)

YES