Urdu Couplet Of the Day 21

ailaan-e-haq meiN Khatra-e-daar-o-rasan tau hai
lekin sawaal yeh hai, ke daar-o-rasan ke baad?
Kaifi Azmi (1919-2002)
An off-the-cuff paraphrasing would read...
In the proclamation/utterance of truth (ailaan-e-haq), lies the inherent danger of the gallows (daar-o-rasan)
The question however remains, what after the gallows?
The second line in which Kaifi poses the question, what after the gallows, is a rhetorical one. Truth cannot be silenced and knows no death. History is replete with instances of oppressive regimes executing people, in trying to stifle the voices of those who stand up for truth and justice.
The torch, so to speak, is passed on from one individual to another, one generation to the next.As Faiz says in his famous nazm written in memory of Ethel and Ariel Rosenberg who, accused of being Soviet spies, were executed in the US during the infamous McCarthy witch hunt in the fifties--
qatlgaahon se chun kar hamaare alam
aur niklenge ushshaaq ke qaafile
Picking our flags (alam) from slaughter houses
Caravans of lovers (of the cause) will follow

Kaifi Azmi, who hailed from Azamgarh in UP, was one of the giants of the Taraqqi Pasand Tehreek (Progressive Writers' Movement) along with Faiz Ahmed 'Faiz', Ali Sardar Jafri, Majaz Lucknawi, Makhdoom Mohiuddin and a galaxy of other poets, thinkers and writers.  Kaifi also wrote for films is remembered for his brilliant lyrics for songs in Shola Aur Shabnam, Haqeeqat, Kagaz Ke Phool, Aakhri Khat and Heer Ranjha, among others.

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