Those rotten volumes of eulogies and odes <br />With a stink far worse than of toilets rank <br />Causing earth to split, which Providence forebode <br />Causing company of angels to blush in the heavens <br />What has caused decline of Din and of knowledge <br />Is the elegant tradition of denizens of our college. <br /> <br />If writing bad poetry some punishment deserves <br />If lies piled on lies is unpardonable sin <br />Then the court which Allah as Qazi preserves <br />Where the dividend for evil and good has been fixed <br />All sinners from there will be forthwith released <br />But our poets will fill all of Hell when deceased. <br /> <br />The labourers and menials, the porters and grooms <br />Prosper in the world by earning their wage <br />Singers earn patronage of the affluent and bloom <br />Even tambourine players get a fee when they ask <br />But bad poets, sick with this chronic malaise <br />Which ill are they cure for? By Allah's grace! <br /> <br />If water-carriers leave, all of us would expire <br />The clothes would be dirty if washermen quit <br />How would we survive if all servants retire? <br />If sweepers moved out, the towns would be filth <br />But if our poets would en masse emigrate <br />'We're rid of bad rubbish,' we'll happily state.<br /><br />Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/our-poets-2/
