Kaifiyat

Book excerpt: Kaifi Azmi's literary legacy remains a bright star in the firmament of Urdu poetry. His poetic temperament-ranging from timeless lyrics in films like Kagaz Ke Phool to soaring revolutionary verses that denounced tyranny-seamlessly combined the radical and the progressive with the lyrical and the romantic. Love and romance, in fact, run like warp through the woof of politics and protest in Kaifi's poetry. This beautifully curated volume brings together poems and lyrics that reflect Kaifi's views on women and romance-from sweetly lyrical odes like 'The First Greeting' to the powerful, anthem-like 'Woman'; from the haunting 'Regret' to the mercurial 'She of Many Faces'. These stunning verses conjure a dynamic portrait of womanhood as seen through the eyes of an exquisitely gifted poet. This scintillating new translation is accompanied by an illuminating introduction by Rakhshanda Jalil on Kaifi Azmi's life and legacy, as well as a moving foreword by his daughter Shabana Azmi.