SHAH JO RISALO- SHARK HUNTERS

Ghatu-XXIV
(Shark-Hunters)
1
Even the wise confounded got
and heroes lost their wits
Those who went out to face the sea,
were caught by current's plot;
Of “Ebb and tide”, they all forgot
what they had learnt before.
2
A power weird is in Kalach,
lost is who enters there;
No one brings news who does ensnares
the nets and keeps them down.
3
To Kalachi but yesterday
brave 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. Ghatu-XXIV (Shark-Hunters) Shah-jo-Risalo
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 out
to know about their lot...
Alas, resonse received they not
and sadly they returned.
6
The bazaar is without fish-smell,
while market formerly
With small carps, and with herrings too
abundantly did swell.
Now there is not a shrimp to sell
buyers have empty hands. Ghatu-XXIV (Shark-Hunters) Shah-jo-Risalo
7
You throw the nets in creeks...not so
the sharks are ever killed;
Possess strong sweep nets that you throw
in 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 befit
Kalachi fishermen!
9
Shark hunter's 'moob', that is the way
a victory to reap-
Their eagerness for whirlpools, and
their longing for the deep,
Deprives them every night of sleep-
they yearn to kill the shark. Ghatu-XXIV (Shark-Hunters) Shah-jo-Risalo
10
In search, they into whirlpools got
and to fathomless ness...
They killed the shark; with happiness
now beam fishermen's eyes.