Ode to Triumph Supreme

Page 1

Ode to Triumph Supreme (Alexander Dowie from his grave)

I

t’s been way more than a century

That defeat, my defeat, came in a cascade;

To lay bare before the whole wide world My grand pretence and masquerade.

The signatory, an Ahmad, had cautioned me,

Today I twist and turn in my grave

The Messiah, he claimed, was he not me,

I hear, a son of Ahmad is here,

That all my sham shall go in vain;

And destined for me was shame and pain.

As the air of Zion is jubilant;

And crowds around him, exuberant.

Elijah I am, and Messiah in one;

That piece of paper, I tore to shreds;

What was my throne, is now his mosque;

Had left enchanted across the world,

That gone are my days of glory and pomp,

So joyous is he, as his aptronym;

A cure for all; this flamboyant claim,

Some thousands of men, and many a dame.

How dare a man on earth may say,

I screamed, “My sway shall never sway!”

Where I once reigned, is now his land.

And so he must be, the occasion is grand.

In fame I grew, in wealth prospered;

But as days went by, and time flew past,

God! Raise me once, from my rotting vault,

Where men, and trees and birds and streams,

I lost all friends and confidants,

And cry, “O Ahmad, thou art great!

In Illinois, I built a town,

Would bow to me and worship my crown.

My splendour began to melt away; As if my fate had gone astray.

So I may stand before this man;

“All thine it is, my land and clan”.

Each day a joy, every night a delight;

While I lay dying in my despair,

With hand on heart, I swear, O Ahmad!

When one fine day, to my dismay,

His song had spread on land and sea,

My pomp and pride, for pardon and grace

I thought my bliss was here to stay.

An epistle arrived from a land far away.

There rose and shone the Indian Messiah; And echoed the Rockies and Himalaya.

I wish I could today redeem,

As yours it is, Triumph Supreme.

English rendering of Asif Basit’s persona poem Dastan-e-Fath-e-Azeem


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.