Doubts, Fears and Optimism

Shahida Yousaf

Sahar Asaar is Amjad Islam Amjad’s latest poetic venture. He has added a new dimension of triumph and jubilation to his poetry. Mists of fears and doubts have dispersed. This book is brimming with poetic fertility and meaningful quests which lead to positivism in future. His constant commitment to the cause of poetry has enabled him to touch the inner most emotions of human soul. He knows precisely the theory of human passion. He has developed a profound and subtle expression in Sahar Asaar. Simplicity of language and variety of forms are evident in the Hamdiya ghazal:

کرتا ہے کون پھول کو خوشبو سے ہمکنار
رکھتا ہے کون آنکھ میں منظر نئے نئے
کس قاعدے سے پھیلتی جاتی ہے کائنات
ذروں سے نکلے آتے ہیں جوہر نئے نئے

He is striving to realise God in every object of this universe. This search takes him to new horizons of time and space. He shapes his themes into unique experiments and has enlivened every poem and ghazal in Sahar Asaar with deep and vigorous feelings:

دائروں میں چلتے ہیں!
دائروں میں چلنے سے
دائرے تو بڑھتے ہیں
فاصلے نہیں گھٹتے
And
عشق کے علاقے میں حکم یار چلتا ہے
ضابطے نہیں چلتے
 

He does not let the overbearing theories hurt the tenderness of his imagination. He neither uses bombastic language nor any far-fetched ideas. Development of his thought in each and every form is usually soft and non-angular as can be seen in poems like Hai koi nazar wala, Saath to ajnabi bhi chaltay hain:

اپنے اپنے سفر پہ نکلے لوگ
مشترک راستوں پہ چلتے ہیں
ہمرہی کے حصار میں جتنے
دن نکلتے چراغ جلتے ہیں
سب کی آنکھوں میں جھلملاتے ہیں
 

He asserts his poetic talent with power and eloquence. He has discovered new laws of connection between his feeling and forms. His choice of words excites the beauty of his ideas. His knowledge of hidden music of words impresses the readers.

کہتا ہے درپن         میرے جیسا بن
صدیاں لوٹ گئی         پائل کی چھن چھن
دھوکہ دیتے ہیں                اجلے پیراہن
 

In these particular forms he has used half-rhyme instead of using full-rhyme. He has championed the art of coining abstract, compund and simple words. In this way he manages to vary the intensity of impact on the reader as can be seen in the followings lines.

کسی خوش نگاہ سی آنکھ نے یہ کمال مجھ پہ کرم کیا
میری لوحِ جاں پہ رقم کیا