We, Who Were Slain In Unlit Pathways

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)

(Prison Journal)

Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh www.ece.utexas.edu/~sheikh/poetry/faiz