"We hear that governance now will have a different cadence
Tyranny will now be the protector; cities will be without walls or doors
Innocence will now be a punishable crime
Judges will profess ignorance of criminal deeds…
Executioners will be in charge of funerals, killers will organize mourning…
If this be the realization of India's ancient dreams
Then soon, there will neither be India, nor any of its connoisseurs…"
Ali Sardar Jafri (1916-2000), translated from the Urdu.
And these lines from W. H. Auden are for Dada
"Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."
(September 1, 1939)
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