Safia Maryam: The Poetess of Love

By: Dr.Maqsood Jafri New York

Last year I visited Toronto, Canada to participate in a conference arranged by Family of the Heart. Eminent poet and critic Mr. Tasleem Elahi Zulfi asked me to preside over a poetry evening being held at his residence. I conceded to his sweet wish and felt humbled and honored. It was a galaxy of prominent columnists, short story writers, poets and critics of Urdu. The people like Mr. Ikram Brailvi, Mr.Karamat Ghori, Hamayat Ali Shair, Mr. Abdullah, Ms. Abida Ghori, Ms. Darakhshan and Ms. Safia Maryam graced the occasion. Ms. Safia Maryam presented a literary critique and impressed the audience by her literary sublimity. Then she recited her poetry which touched the hearts of the audience. I found her a unique personality who is devoted to poetry in this era of materialism. Her interest in literary pursuits glared from her meditative eyes. I found a surge of emotion in her couplets. Her poetic diction is lyrical and gravitating. She does not cut her relation from our Persian literary tradition. Her ideas are new and encompassing but the idiom and diction is of our great poets who beautified their poetry with the beauties of charming and lucid poetic diction.

She has sent me a few fresh poems for comments. These are three Ghazals. The first Ghazal mirrors her intense passion for love. There is not a shred of doubt in it that the foundation of immortal and versatile poetry is the deep passion of love. William Wordsworth, the English poet of Nature regarded poetry as the overflow of powerful passions expressed in tranquility.  These Ghazal of Safia Maryam depict her commitment with the flawless passion of love. Great Persian poet Hafiz Sherazi had said:" There is flaw in the foundation of everything but the foundation of Love is flawless". Safia Maryam in a couplet says: “The coquetries of love are poetic. Love is the soul and secret of poetry." Like Hafiz Sherazi and John Keats, she erects the grand edifice of her poetry on the pillars of the pure passion of love.

In another couplet, she mourns on the lusty and leering looks of the sensuous so called suitors. Love has been classified in to three kinds. The Platonic love is the union of two pure souls. The Byronic love is the union of two bodies. The Browning love is the union of two souls resulting into the union of two bodies. The best love is when two hearts intertwine and their inter twisting unifies in body and soul. Safia Maryum seems to appreciate love in totality. It is neither Platonic nor Byronic. In her concept of love she does not forget the sanctity of the passion of love. In her ghazal with "Saeen" rhyme she paints and portrays her sublime and super passion of love which takes her to the zenith of spiritual eternity. She preaches love. Love for all. It is not only for one person. It is a vicarious passion. In the picture of one lover or beloved we see so many facets, facades and faces. Love has many dimensions. It eliminates hatred, rancor and bloodshed. She in her poems strongly advocates the spread of the scent of love. Love wins the hearts. Love is peace. Love is God. Her sole poetry swings and surrounds around the orbit of love.  She is the poetess of Love. We need to promote love in our era fraught with religious, racial and territorial feuds. We need to make our present disturbed and turbulent world a safe hub and haven for our coming generations. We can only do this if we join the camp of the lovers wherein Safia Maryum is anxiously waiting for the caravan of the lovers to greet them and soothe them with the eternal panacea of love.