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Winter in June, by Lorette C. Luzajic, translated by Saad Ali

9/2/2021

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Profile, Eye and Star, Jean Cocteau (France) by 1963

Winter in June 

He is talking about glaciers and the widest skies in the world, about a place called Gondwana that hasn’t existed for two hundred million years. In June, the deep of winter, the moon is  eternal and the sun does not rise. You imagine night horses with ice in their manes, galloping across snow-capped mountains. Where would you be if you weren’t here? Maybe there, a little  farther north, where Malbec flows from the limestone and men like this one dance the tango.  You were too practical to run after him when you had the chance, didn’t try to tame him into  staying. You chose to set down roots, in the Northern hemisphere where the cold comes in January, without looking back. Found a man you can depend on, who still makes your heart  race to this day, and you are happy. Still, as glasses clink and voices murmur, as guests choose  carefully between Viognier and Pinot Noir, or Stilton and Gruyere, as your small audience  takes in an arrangement of your pictures, you feel a strange sensation of thaw. It has been a few  years since your southbound friend has made it home to one of your exhibitions; it has been  nearly twenty since you slept together. Patrons are asking questions about your palette, about  the meaning of the signs in your impasto. But you are somewhere else, just for the moment, in  the crispy porch frost of a November dusk, melting, Coldplay on repeat, tumbling atop those  so small hips, crushing them like winter birds.

Lorette C. Luzajic

This piece first appeared in Unbroken Journal, then as the title piece for the author's collection, Winter in June, (Mixed Up Media Books, 2021).
​
Urdu Translation
 

جون میں موسم سرما 
​

وہ دنیا میں برف کے تودوں اور وسیع ترین آسمانوں کی باتیں کر رہا ہے, ایک جگہ کی جس کا نام گوندوانا ہے جو کے سو الکھ سالوں سے وجود میں ہی نہیں ہے۔ جون میں ,موسم سرما کی شدت ,چاند ابدی ہوتا ہے اور سورج طلوع نہیں ہوتا۔ تم رات کے گھوڑوں کا تصور کرتے ہو جن کے بال برف سے لرہے ہوں, برف سے ڈھکی چٹانوں میں دوڑتے ہوئے۔ تم کہاں ہوتے اگر یہاں نہ ہوتے؟ شاہد وہاں, تھوڑا اور اوپر جنوب میں ,مالبک العم سٹون سے بہتا  ہے اور اس طرح کے مرد ٹینگو ناچ ناچتے ہیں۔ تم بہت زیادہ حقیقت پسند تھی کہ اس کے پیچھے بھاگتی جب تمہارے پاس موقع تھا , اسے روکنے کے لئے سدہارا نہیں۔ تم نے اپنی جڑیں شمالی عالقے میں بونا پسند کین جہاں سردی جنوری میں آتی ہے, بغیر پیچھے دیکھے۔ وہ مرد ڈہونڈا جس پہ تم اعتماد کر سکو , وہ جو تمہارے دل کی ,دھڑکن کو تیز کر دیتا ہو, اور تم خوش ہو۔ ابھی بھی ,جب گالسز ٹکرا رہے ہیں اور آوازیں کھسر پھسر کر رہی ہیں جب مہمان بڑی احتیاط سے ویوگنیئر اور پنوٹ نیر یا اسٹیلٹن اور گرئیر کے درمیان چناؤ کر رہے ہیں, جب تمہارے تھوڑے سے سامعین تمہاری تصاویر کی ترتیب سے محزوز ہو رہے ہیں, تمہیں پگھلنے کا عجیب احساس محسوس  ہوتا ہے۔ کچھ سال بیت چکے ہیں جب تمہارا جنوب میں بسنے والو دوست تمہا ری کسی ایک نمائش میں گھر آیا ہو؛ بیس سال بیت چکے ہیں جب تم دونوں آخری دفع ھمبستر ہوئے تھے۔ سرپرست تمہارے پیلیٹ کے بارے میں سوال ,کر رہے ہیں, تمہارے امپاستو میں نشانات کے بارے میں۔ مگر تمہارا دیہان کہیں اور ہے, فکت ایک لمحے کے لئے  ,نوبر کی شام کی پورچ کی کرکری ٹھنڈ میں, پگھلتے, کولڈ پلے دوبارا-دوبارا, ان انتہائی چھوٹے کولہوں پہ ٹمٹماتے  موسم سرما کے پرندوں کی طرح کچلتے ہوئے۔  

Transliteration 

June Mein Mosam-e-Sarma 

Woh dunya mein barf ke todoon aur wasee tareen asmanoon ki baatain ker raha hai, aik jagha  ki jis ka nam Gondawa hai jo ke so-lakh saaloon se wajood mein hi nahein hai. June mein  mosam-e-sarma ki shidat, chaand abdi hota hai aur suraj tulu nahein hota. Tum raat ke ghoroon  ka Tasawar karte ho jink e baal barf se laday hon, barf se dahle chatanoon mein dhorte howe. Tum kahan hote ager yahan na hote? Shahid wahan, thora aur oper, janoob mein, jahan Malbec limestone se behta hai aur iss tarha ke mard tango naach naachte hain. Tum bohat zaida hakikat  pasand thi ke uss ke peeche bhagti jab tumhare paas moqa tha, usse rukne ke liye sudhara  nahein. Tum nein apni jarain shumali alakae mein bona pasand kein Jahan sardi January mein  aati hai, bagair pechae deekhe. Woh mard dhonda jis pe tum aitimaad ker sako, woh jo tumhare  dil ki dharkan ko taez ker deta ho, aur tum khush ho. Abhi bhi, jab glasses takra rahe hain aur  awaazain khoser phoser ker rahi hain, jab mehmaan beri ehtiaat se Viognier aur Pinot Noir ya  Stilton aur Gruyere ke dermiaan chunaaoo ker rahe hain, jab tumhare thore se saameein tumhari  tasaaveer ki terteeb se mehzooz ho rahe hain, tumhain phegalne ka aik ajeeb ehsaas mehsoos  hota hai. Kuch saal beet chuke hain jab tumhara janoob mein basnae wala dost tumhari kisi  nomaaish mein ghar aya ho, beis saal beet chuke hain jab tum donoon aakhri dafa hum-bister  hoay thae. Sirparast tumhare palette ke baare mein sawaal ker rahe hain, tumhare impasto mein  nishanaat ke bare mein. Magar tumhara dehaan kahein aur hai, fakt aik lamhe ke liye,  November ki sham porch ki kurkuri thand mein, phegalti, Coldplay dobara-dobara, un intehaai  choote kolhoon pe tamtamate, mosam-e-sarma ke parindoon ki terha kochalte hoay.

​translated by Saad Ali

Saad Ali (b. 1980 C.E. in Okara, Pakistan) has been educated and brought up in the United  Kingdom (UK) and Pakistan. He holds a BSc and an MSc in Management from the University  of Leicester, UK. He is an existential philosopher, poet, and translator. Ali has authored five books of poetry. His latest collection of poetry is called Owl Of Pines: Sunyata (AuthorHouse,  2021). He is a regular contributor to The Ekphrastic Review. By profession, he is a Lecturer,  Consultant, and Trainer/Mentor. Some of his influences include: Vyasa, Homer, Ovid, Attar,  Rumi, Nietzsche, and Tagore. He is fond of the Persian, Chinese, and Greek cuisines. He likes  learning different languages, travelling by train, and exploring cities on foot. To learn more  about his work, please visit www.facebook.com/owlofpines.

Lorette C. Luzajic's ekphrastic prose poems and small stories have been widely published, recently in MacQueen's Quinterly, The Citron Review, Trampset, Ghost Parachute, JMWW, Cleaver Magazine, and more. She teaches ekphrastic writing in online workshops, through The Ekphrastic Review and beyond. Recently, she started teaching five day ekphrastic microfiction workshops with Meg Pokrass. Lorette is the founding editor of The Ekphrastic Review. She is also an award-winning, internationally collected visual artist, with collectors in thirty countries so far.
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    Lorette C. Luzajic [email protected] 

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