Ayaz Gul is one of the leading contemporary Sindhi poets of the country. He has published seven collections of poetry, including the critically acclaimed Dukh Ji Na Pujani Aa (1987) and Deenh Dithey Ja Sapna (1984). He is currently chairman of the Sindhi Department, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur. Gul’s poetry is marked by an insightful sense of the present and its inalienable association with the past. ‘Maslahat-i-Khudawandi’ is one of his most oft-discussed poems.

The Divine Discretion

They say
The walls have ears.
Better that they do not keep a tongue!
Else so many secrets would be open
And so many stories would pierce
The darkness and be common
The masks of nobility would come off
And how utterly irksome
Faces would appear.

Many a man measured in gold
Would prove to be fake
And dreams would weep
At their interpretation.
With the dispersal of beliefs
All beautiful thoughts
Would sip poison
Ruins would rein in
Yes, ruins would rein in

Better it is
Those walls don’t keep a tongue.

Translated by Latif Noonari

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, June 3rd, 2018