आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी (With English Translation)

आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी

आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी उसे सुना देना
कुछ ना सुने तो आंसू से फैली श्याही दिखा देना
मैं तो घायल हू दी गई उसकी खता से
तुम जुर्म इ-मोहब्बत के कुछ फ़साने सुना देना
आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी उसे सुना देना।

आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी उसे सुना देना
लगी हो अगर उसके भी दिल में आग
तुम मेरे पुराने खतों से भुजा देना
ख़त अब जो ना लिख सके उसे अल्विदा का
तुम इन सिसकियों का गीत सुना देना
आज रात मेरी यह ख़ामोशी उसे सुना देना।

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 Aaj raat meri yeh khamoshi

Aaj raat meri yeh khamoshi use suna dena
Kuch na sune toh aansu se fehli shayahi dekha dena
Mei toh ghayal hu de gayi uski khata se
Tum jurm-e-mohobbat ke kuch fasane suna dena
Aaj raat meri yeh khamoshi use suna dena.

Aaj raat meri yeh khamoshi use suna de
Lagi ho agar uske bhe dil me aag
Tum mere purane khaton se bhuja dena
Khat ab jo na likh sake use alvida ka
Tum in siskiyon ka geet suna dena
Aaj raat meri yeh khamoshi use suna dena.

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Let him hear my silence tonight

Let him hear my silence tonight
Show these tear-stained pages if he will not hear
He is the cause of this, my plight
Sing of this cursed love into his ear
Let him hear my silence tonight.

O let him hear my silence tonight
And if he too burns as I do, here
Use my love letters to smother the fire bright
I couldn’t say, “Goodbye, may your future be fair”
Sing him of sorrow, of the tear stained night
Oh, let him just hear my silence tonight!

Translation is done by Himanshu Bhatnagar. Thank you, HB!

– Kritika Vashist

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Ten Years Down the Road

Ten years down the road, while finding your old favorite books, your hand will accidentally land on the piles of letters I had written to you, worn down by the time, hidden away from you and the world, continuing with their shallow breathing under the mountain of newly written pages. You’ll choose one letter randomly from the stack, while your body shuddering with realization that you cease to remember us and the memories of me etched into the letters. You will begin to read few lines, and you’ll fathom out the reasons of those scribbled words. As you will continue to read, you will realize that the events that had happened were stupid and that I was immature, but nonetheless, I did love you. The words that you’ll read won’t make any sense, but you will pick up the threads and your eyes will shed a tear of remembrance making the sight all blurry.
The love will travel slowly in your body and bones, and you will miss me more than you ever did.

Ten years down the same road, while rummaging through my closet, the well organized piles of clothes will fall down making a view for my eyes to see the jute pursue hidden beneath the multiple layers of clothes. My hands would reach the purse with frayed edges, however, still protecting my most precious belonging.  The silence around will let me hear my heartbeats remembering you. Taking out that black and white photograph of yours, the one you gave me when the situation was in our favor. My heart will skip a beat and the eyes will roll down the tear settled at the corner, when they will look fixedly at the photograph of you. I’ll look vividly at the long neck, that big nose, those deep and dark eyes, some stubble and will wonder how you are. Kissing the photograph I’ll leave imprints of my lips and moisture of my tears that will continue to roll down, till someone will knock on the door of my room asking me to hurry up.
The same love will rush through my veins and skin, and I will miss you terribly than I ever did.

Eventually we both will realize that the road had bumps and that we had fallen. We tried to help each other, to hold hands, but we had fallen quite far, and your hand couldn’t hold mine and my hand couldn’t reach yours. The only way to bestir ourselves was to stand up all alone and to complete the rest of the journey without holding each other’s hand.
Our hearts keeping alive the love and our souls still coupled.

-Kritika Vashist

(PS. That piece of art is a painting by me, reflecting Radha and Krishna, the eternal lovers as per Hindu mythology.)