Every tear is a verse, every heart a poem. The struggle to keep the wolf away, communal riots, injustice and the unfulfilled dreams – they all find expression in his poems. Poetry is supposed to mirror the life around. And Swadheen does just that. One can’t read his ‘ghazlein’ and ‘nazmein’ without a touch of anguish and pain.
Shashi Narayan Swadheen is a poet of all seasons. He tries to capture the complexities of life, the day-to-day struggle, the joys and sorrows in a telling way. The flow of words is simple and spontaneous. Sample this couplet:
Nahin thi dil ki zameen koyee
Nahin tha aasman apna
Thikana tha viranon main
Khan koyee makan apna!
Swadheen’s book of poems, ‘Surkh lahu ke khwab’, released the other day contains some of his best ‘nazam’ and ‘ghazals’ penned during the last one year.
As the title suggests the poems underline the torment and injustice meted out to the common man. The sufferings of the victims of Muzaffarnagar riots is captured in a telling way and so is the frequent outburst of terror attacks.
Shahr ke raaste udas hain
Tum khan ho? Bhaqtiar bhai
Rozgar choote dinon main
Kis tarha kat rahi hai .. zindgi tumhari
Basically a Hindi poet, Swadheen is equally at ease writing in Urdu. In his latest book he mixes Hindi and Urdu words effortlessly.
Poems like ‘Abtak Dunya’, ‘Woh Din’, ‘Appeal’, ‘Sunehre Din’ strikes a chord among readers.
The poet in Swadheen is sad at the bloody wars and disturbances all over. He captures it best in this verse:
Kabhi bum aur vispot hamari bhasha nahin ho sakte
Jamhooriat main awaaz ki bharpur jagah hai
