Shah Latif `s Poetry (Translated In Verse By: Elsa Kazi) Ghatu-XXIV (Shark-Hunters)

1
Even the wise confounded gotand heroes lost their wits-Those who went out to face the sea,were caught by current's plot;Of "Ebb and tide", they all forgotwhat they had learnt before.
2
A power weird is in Kalach,lost is who enters there;No one brings news who does ens'narethe nets and keeps them down.
3
To Kalachi but yesterdaybrave men went forth with spears;Late were the brothers...none returned,nought more of them one hears.Whirlpools have swallowed them one fears-the fishers all are dead.
4
Where fishers used to seek the fish,the barren sand-dunes lie;Fish-sellers ruined, the river dry;and tax collector gone
5
Had they been near, they would have come;perchance too far they got-Fisher folk saw their haunts, called outto know about their lot...Alas, resonse received they notand sadly they returned.-
6
The bazar is without fish-smell,while market formerlyWith small carps, and with herrings tooabundantly did swell.Now there is not a shrimp to sellbuyers have empty hands.
7
You throw the nets in creeks...not sothe sharks are ever killed;Possess strong sweep nets that you throwin deepest sea below;-Sharks not to shallow waters go,and depths are far ahead.
8
To enter sea, prepare your ropes;strengthen them bit by bit--Relationship do not befitKalachi fishermen!
9Shark hunter's 'moob', that is the waya victory to reap-Their eagerness for whirlpools, andtheir longing for the deep,Deprives them every night of sleep-they yearn to kill the shark.
10
In search, they into whirlpools gotand to fathomlessness...They killed the shark; with hapinessnow beam fishermen's eyes.