Bernard M Jackson

SOME MOMENTS OF LOVE ---- Poems By Hamza Hassan Sheikh -----Rs. 100

Reviewed By: Bernard M Jackson, England

Your face is like a verdant rose,

Expressed in poetry or in prose.

In the shadow of your smile

Let me survive just for a while.

(Quatrain)

All the world loves a lover, and doubly so when, like a welcome songbird, his overwhelming passion and sensitivity are duly transcribed into that essential area of lyricism that the literary world has come to know as poetry. Hamza Hassan Sheikh, a forceful young romantic with an eye for light and shade, and the minutiae of accompanying descriptive detail, has (like so many idealist poets before him) taken the plunge and, gathering together a number of his choicest love poems, accordingly. Hamza, it must be noted, is resident of Pakistan, a country whose poets are seldom represented in international literary circles. In welcoming Hamza to our developing literary fraternity, we trust that many fellow-countrymen of his acquaintance will be duly inspired to follow in his footsteps to help build yet another bridge of peace between the nations.

While it may be argued that Hamza has a good command of English, and can therefore readily draw upon a fairly wide range of selective vocabulary, there do remain areas of expression in his syntax, generally, that are some what at variance with standard English expression. However, there is no doubting the sincerity and sheer passion of his out pouring in verse which, at times, reach momentary heights of lyricism:

When new bloom blossomed and cool breeze blew,

Then in the spread out mist,

It touched my cheeks,

Bringing a message of your love.

(Love’s Force)

There is in this poet’s verse a strong element of pain of loss (of a loved-one). Here we encounter the familiar heartache of unrequited love, as the poet alternates between vivid daydreams (half-hoping to recapture some of that earlier loving rapture) and, at other times, the introduction of death imagery and figures of the emptiness remaining in this day-to-day life, after his former lover had finally departed from his company:

I was dying with the dead desire,

Couldn’t seek love who pushed me in pain’s mire.

(Astraying in the desert)

The desert imagery, contained in the previous mentioned poem is, of course, symptomatic and particularly symbolic of a phase in his human existence which the poet realizes to be entirely barren and unproductive. There is here, too, a heightened awareness with indications of distinct spiritual learning’s, as Hamza’s thoughtful search for love finds loftier motivation.

Those who study poetic development in out romantic younger folk would do well to read this writer’s word, for its main interest lies in the fact that he is typically a promising young poet, in the embryo. In the years to come, I feel sure that his attractive verse will improve quite considerably with the added assistance of a meticulous revision of all initial drafting’s of his work; an important measure that must be taken if his writings are to meet with the universal approval of his fellow writers. We await Hamza’s future submitted work with great interest.