Even if my eyes become the soles of your feet <br />even so, the fear will not leave you <br />that though I cannot see <br />I can feel bodies and sentences <br />like a fragrance. <br /> <br />Even if, for my own safety, I rub my nose in the dirt till it becomes invisible <br />even so, this fear will not leave you <br />that though I cannot smell <br />I can still say something. <br /> <br />Even if my lips, singing praises of your godliness <br />become dry and soulless <br />even so, this fear will not leave you <br />that though I cannot speak <br />I can still walk. <br /> <br />Even after you have tied the chains of domesticity, <br />shame and modesty around my feet even after you have paralysed me <br />this fear will not leave you <br />that even though I cannot walk <br />I can still think. <br /> <br />Your fear of my being free, being alive <br />and able to think might lead you, who knows, into what travails. <br /> <br />[Translated from urdu to english by Rukhsana Ahmed]<br /><br />Kishwar Naheed<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/anticlockwise/
