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拍品专文
The title of the painting references verses by noted Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1914 1984) and in effect serves as a posthumous homage to Faiz. Faizs poem plays tribute to the martyrs who were tortured and unjustly killed for political reasons and was written during one of his many prison incarcerations. It was specifically inspired by the final letters of Julius Rosenberg to his wife, Ethel, upon their impending execution in 1953. The American couple held Communist sympathies and were convicted of treason after passing along nuclear information to the Soviet Union. A translation of the poem follows:
We, Who Were Slain In Unlit Pathways
Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh https://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30313
Inspired by the letters of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Wishing for the roses of your lips
we offered ourselves to a gallows' twig
Longing for the radiance of your glowing hands
we let ourselves be slain in unlit pathways
On the gallows away from our face
darted the redness of your ruby lips,
waved the playfulness of your youthful locks,
shone the glow of the silver palms.
When the evening of suffering settled in your alleys
we came, as far as our steps could bring
Words of poetry on our lips, a lamp of anguish in our hearts
Our suffering was a testimony to your beauty
See, we were faithful to our pledge
We, who were slain in unlit pathways.
If failure was our destined end
your love was indeed our own doing.
Who is to blame if all the roads of passion
led to the killing grounds of separation.
Picking up our flags from these grounds
will march forth more caravans of your lovers
For whose journeys' sake, our footsteps have
shortened the lengths of the agonizing quest
For whose sake we have made universal
by losing our lives, the pledge to your faithfulness
We, who were slain in unlit pathways.
(Montgomery Jail, 15 May 1954)
Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh
Sadequain powerfully illustrates the scene with the inclusion of a mushroom-cloud type formation in the sky amidst the hanged figures below. Expounding further upon Faizs sentiments, Sadequain may also be making a veiled reference in this work to his own life and times. The work was painted during the height of the repressive regime by General Zia ul Haq (1924 1988), which was marked by a rapid Islamicisation of Pakistani society that pushed most artistic activity underground.
This painting is accompanied by calligraphic verses of Faiz Ahmed Faiz rendered by Sadequain on velvet [12 x 18in. (30.5 x 45.5cm.)].
We, Who Were Slain In Unlit Pathways
Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh https://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30313
Inspired by the letters of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Wishing for the roses of your lips
we offered ourselves to a gallows' twig
Longing for the radiance of your glowing hands
we let ourselves be slain in unlit pathways
On the gallows away from our face
darted the redness of your ruby lips,
waved the playfulness of your youthful locks,
shone the glow of the silver palms.
When the evening of suffering settled in your alleys
we came, as far as our steps could bring
Words of poetry on our lips, a lamp of anguish in our hearts
Our suffering was a testimony to your beauty
See, we were faithful to our pledge
We, who were slain in unlit pathways.
If failure was our destined end
your love was indeed our own doing.
Who is to blame if all the roads of passion
led to the killing grounds of separation.
Picking up our flags from these grounds
will march forth more caravans of your lovers
For whose journeys' sake, our footsteps have
shortened the lengths of the agonizing quest
For whose sake we have made universal
by losing our lives, the pledge to your faithfulness
We, who were slain in unlit pathways.
(Montgomery Jail, 15 May 1954)
Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh
Sadequain powerfully illustrates the scene with the inclusion of a mushroom-cloud type formation in the sky amidst the hanged figures below. Expounding further upon Faizs sentiments, Sadequain may also be making a veiled reference in this work to his own life and times. The work was painted during the height of the repressive regime by General Zia ul Haq (1924 1988), which was marked by a rapid Islamicisation of Pakistani society that pushed most artistic activity underground.
This painting is accompanied by calligraphic verses of Faiz Ahmed Faiz rendered by Sadequain on velvet [12 x 18in. (30.5 x 45.5cm.)].