Saman de Silva
I ask you this
which way to go?
I ask you this
which voice to hear?
Whose hand to take
in midst of fear?
I do not know.
No, no.
I cannot know.
I tell you this
which way I’ll go.
I tell you this
with no more need
I stand alone
beside my creed
You must follow.
Go, go.
You must have known.
Still you are blind
the errs you’ve laid.
Still you are blind
ensnared by greed
What profit reaps
this life of mine?
I will not go
No, no.
I shall not go
Thus we must part
that way, you’ll go.
Thus we must part
no shedded tear
Unshackled, free?
I’ve no more fear.
Our kindred souls
alone.
Now I do know.
Explanation:
This poem is structurally based on “Prayer” by Langston Hughes. “Prayer,” written in 1961, describes an individual seeking God’s advice in a state of existential dread. Over a decade later, the poem was set to a delicate, cautious melody with an equally tentative piano accompaniment. The piece, in its original form, paints a slow-moving and contemplative scene featuring compositional elements of early spirituals. The song was written with Leslie Adams’ other compositions in a set called Nighstongs.
My motivation for using art song to communicate gharbzadegi is to appropriate a distinctly un-islamic art form. Frankly, art song was built in christian tradition; most audiences that consume art song exist within a secular or christian tradition. More specifically, art song is a western art form, and I am interested in communicating this idea to a western audience that would otherwise not flinch in questioning the eminence of westernism.
My rewrite of this poetry reframes the context of reckoning to depict a character becoming resolute with their rejection of westernism. Specifically, I wanted to examine the context of gharbzadegi in terms of the ideas expressed through jahiliyya by Hassan al-Banna. I think that there is something deeply inspiring about al-Banna’s realization that western forces were inflicting disunity on his community. In the rush of globalization, westernism became equalized with modernism. Rather than consider ideological pushback, western forces were able to leverage mass economic success to overwhelm opponents to this false equivalence. Yet, ideologues like al-Banna, Shariati, Al-i-Ahmed, and more were able to articulate the precarity of Muslim conformity.
In turn, the poem manifests itself in two main interpretations. One, a character speaking with themself and reckoning with their own inability to think and believe freely without the confines of westernism. Two, a character speaking to western philosophy, arguing that they have been stifled by western forces that have knowingly dismantled this character’s spiritual and mental health by shackling them to westernism.
The poem touches on many themes propounded by Shariati, chiefly in the dehumanization enforced by capitalism and communism. I wanted to portray a sense of regret and loss within the text encapsulating that which a westoxicated Muslim might come to see of themselves before seeking spiritual liberation. Lines such as “What profit reaps / this life of mine?” refer to both an individual’s capacity to define personal success monetarily and the inability to achieve other vectors of success (chiefly religious) when bounded by westernism.
I sought to parallelize the structure of the poem, particularly juxtaposing strophes one and four in the arc of the character's decision. So as to best suit the emotional subtext of the piece and depict ambiguity and non-finality, the song only contains the first two strophes. However, I thought it necessary to relate a response, as gharbzadegi feels best described not only by indecision but by simultaneous ideological rejection as well.