Missing, by Lorette C. Luzajic, Translated Into Urdu by Saad Ali and Nashwa Yaqoob Butt

Self-Portrait in Semi-Abstract Style, by Sylvia Plath (USA) 1946-1952

Missing

I find Ariel, I find her on the floor in the corner of my room, under an ashtray, under the weight of all these words. My mother calls: her voice is hollow and dizzy, with the latest. She is missing again, but so am I. I do not know where to run, where to turn, where to land. I do not know where to find her. I do not know where I am.

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Urdu Translation:

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Transliteration:

Sylvia Plath (USA) ki tasweer Neem-Tasawurati Zaati-Shabeeh (1952) ki tarz per

La Pata

Mujhe Ariel mil jati hai, mujhe who milti hai fersh par apne kamre ke goshe mein, rakhdaan ke niche, un tamaam alfaaz ke bojeh tale. Meri ma phone call kerti hai: un ki aawaaz khokhli aur neim khawabbida hoti hai, tazah tarein khaber ke saath. Who phir se la pata ho gayi hai, lakin main bhi. Mujhe maloom nahein main kahan bhagoon, kahan muroon, kahan rukoon. Mujhe maloom nahein ussy kahan dhondoon, mujhe maloom nahein ke main kahan hoon.

Lorette C. Luzajic
translated into Urdu by Saad Ali and Nashua Yaqoob Butt


​This poem first appeared (in English) in The Neon Rosary: tiny prose poems (Cyberwit Books).  

Saad Ali (b. 1980 CE in Okara, Pakistan) has been brought up and educated in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. He is a bilingual poet-philosopher and literary translator. His new collection of poems is titled Owl Of Pines: Sunyata (AuthorHouse, 2021). He has translated Lorette C. Luzajic’s ekphrastic poetry and micro/flash fictions into Urdu: Lorette C. Luzajic: Selected Ekphrases: Translated into Urdu(2023). He is a regular contributor to The Ekphrastic Review. He has had poems published in The Mackinaw and Synchronized Chaos. His work has been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology. He has had ekphrases showcased at an Art Exhibition, Bleeding Borders, curated at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in Alberta, Canada. Some of his influences include: Vyasa, Homer, Attar, Rumi, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Kafka, Tagore, Lispector, et alia. He enjoys learning different languages, travelling by train, and exploring cities/towns on foot. To learn further about his work, please visit: www.saadalipoetry.com; www.facebook.com/owlofpines.


Nashua Yaqoob Butt (b. 1984 C.E.) is from the Gujrat District, Pakistan. She is a teacher, social worker, and poetess. She holds an MA in Mass Communication from The Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan. She has authored two collections of poetry: Luminous Butterfly (2021), and Solitude: Silence and Self Identity (2023). Currently, she teaches Urdu and Social Studies (Secondary Level/Grade 9 & 10) at the Jinnah Public School & College, Gujrat, Pakistan. She has also been a part of a local Social Welfare Organisation (working for the empowerment of women in the region) as a Crochet Instructor. Her influences include: Rumi, Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, Amrita Pritam, and Rabindranath Tagore – to name a few. In her spare time, she pursues gardening, sketching/painting, writing, and crocheting. You can learn more about her work via her Facebook Author Page: www.nashwayaqoobbutt.