Seeing Muneebur Rehman writing free verse with the same passion is like watching a procession which has passed and has left behind a solitary soul. A biographical note in his newly-published collection, Sarkon Kai Chiragh, tells the reader that Rehman made his debut as a modern verse writer in 1939. Though he was never a prolific writer, and perhaps that is why he did not gain the prominence he deserved, he remained committed to his art. He also has to his credit the translations of two Shakespearian plays and four books on modern Persian verse.

Rehman stands distinguished from modern verse writers of present times. Three of his poems, one devoted to the memory of Ali Sardar Jafri and the other two to Jazbi, may also be seen as homage to the age he feels he rightly belongs. After the departure of his contemporaries of the 1940s, Rehman developed a strong friendship with Muzaffar Ali Syed and expresses sorrow at his sad demise in one of his verses: “I feel lonely standing in a desert”.

Rehman is nostalgic for the days gone by and his poems can be seen as remembrances of the past; his mind is laden with memories. He recalls a number of things which may seem insignificant but mean a lot to him: a train moving slowly out of the station, rainfall, swans swimming in a pond, a dove perched on the branch of a tree and cooing incessantly, the gramophone dog, a kite flying high in the sky. These images gain a new significance each time they are recalled; they appear to have metaphorical meanings.

In one of his poems, Rehman recalls a song he had heard in his early years and is lost in a reverie hearing a voice that repeats: “Main hoon Janki Bai Allahabad wali.” He wonders if the voice is coming from the gramophone or is an echo from the past. All such things when revived through his poetry transform into metaphors that point to a vanished age.

In this process of remembrance, the poet is seen to be developing a relationship with nature complimented by vivid descriptions of the seasons and rainfall, of trees and of birds he had seen in his early years. Nature seems to come alive in his verses. In these images Rehman finds some consolation. They provide a few moments of happiness to him. Otherwise the dominating mood in his poems is that of sadness. The memories of the good old days bring along a wave of sadness.

But perhaps it is not merely the memories of the good old days but something else which is disturbing the poet. Rehman’s poem titled “Burhapa Aachuka Hai” provides the key to all the sadness and sorrow we see permeating in his poems. The poet has been overtaken by old age and has not been able to reconcile with it. This poem speaks of his desperate attempts to come to terms with it, to accept it in good faith, as a fact of life. It seems he is saying that of course youth is gone. But old age too is bliss in its own way.

This may be considered a reconciliatory note, but his poetry on the whole negates this declaration. The poems speak of his awareness of the passing time and this is where his sorrow emanates from.