'I Should Be A Watchman And Keep Them Awake': A Poem By Lal Singh Dil

Through 100 pages of 'Poetry as Evidence', Outlook presents a selection of poems and verses that have moved us, and we feel these serve as evidence of our bleak times and lives. The poem below is the 58th from the series.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 14 January 2024 8:20 am

Protestors flash their mobile torches in the memory of 40 farmers who lost their lives during the 2020 protests in Ghaziabad.

There is no doubt
our lives have fallen
to such depths
that people, unconscious
think about killing themeselves at night
I think
I should be a watchman
and keep them awake.

—Translated by Jasdeep Singh

isa ch koi shakk nahin

jivan ene dumghe

toian ch digg pia hai

ki behosh lok ratam nun

khudakushiam baare sochade ne

main sochada ham

chaunkidara karam

te inhan nun jagade rakkham

Lal Singh Dil, Punjab

(Lal Singh Dil was a Dalit Sikh poet from Punjab. A rebellious poet coming from a hard-working, environment in Punjab, Dil’s life was punctuated by hardships and his zealous efforts to overcome them. In the midst of his radical politics, it was his poetry that struck an emotional chord with readers.)

(Jasdeep Singh is a translator, film writer, and technology worker based in Mohali, Punjab. He has written dialogues and scenarios for Panjabi cinema and theater. His writings and translations have appeared in the Scroll.in, Cafe Dissensus, India Today, and 91st Meridian. He was part of the editorial team that brought out Trolley Times, a newsletter from the farmers' protest site. He curated Parchanve, a blog on translated Punjabi poetry. During the COVID years, he started an online reading group to study the poetry of the 16th-century poet Madho Laal Shah Hussain.)