'Water: A Friend or A Foe?'

© The Sanniah Experience! (TSE) 

An Analysis of Taufiq Rafat's Poetry
By Sanniah Hassan 

Everything in this world is symbolic of the human race, objects, or ideas representative of a phenomenon. It is no different with water be it in literature or real life. As humans, we take water to mean something or the other at all times whether literal or figurative, regardless of the geographical or mental constraints. Writers through the years have always been somewhat intrigued by it as a source of survival, of life et cetera. They have always used it as a step toward progress or a foreshadowing of hard times, from Donne to Hemingway, from Shamsie to Hosseini, writers cannot help but be amazed at it. Similarly, Taufiq Rafat a remarkable South Asian poet is no different. He beautifully takes the image of water and employs it in his poetry to create nothing short of art.

This essay strives to discuss whether Rafat’s use of ‘water’ in his works is that of a friend or a foe. Having always been a nationalist in his own way, Rafat has been extremely fascinated with the flora and fauna of his homeland never letting it stay in the geographical background but bringing it to the forefront by molding his poetic creations around his love for the natural beauty and mystique of his country. Taking the idea of water and presenting it in different ways such as rain, teardrops, water droplets, or simply a massive body of water. For instance, in the first volume of poems Arrival of the Monsoon written between 1947 and 1978 Rafat has divided the book into four sections. In it, the first and fourth sections are titled “Arrival of the Monsoon” and “Wedding in the Flood” (Rafat 2-260) respectively.

In “Karachi, 1955” Rafat says, “All the forces/ of nature crowding man of his perch/ so that the land can return to its ways./ In this city of scarce sweet water and little rain/ each man protects his rood of greenery/ with panicked care.” In the next stanza, the poet says, “We wear our features to suit the landscape, / and malice moves like a rainless cloud/ over the brown cliffs of the teeth.” (6) In a later poem the poet writes, “Away in the background a waterfall/ rests like a white tie against/ the mountain’s heaving chest… the breeze/ with a hint of rain makes a cavil… where the stream/ among the smooth pebbles at the bottom/ sparkles like soda.” (“A Positive Region” 20)

In “The Village” he alludes to “shaving water” or when he says, “they left in panic; also weeping children/ separated from them/ by the length of a trench… as a foot-print/ by the river-side fills the water.” (31-32) in all of the above-mentioned poems Rafat has treated water differently. In one he refers to it as “sweet” alluding to the notion of its pleasant and probable life-giving ability. This is similar to Shamsie who uses water as a cleanser, a source of purity, of life. Such a representation is not only welcoming but highly appealing for in Islam water is first and foremost a means of ablution. Rafat’s reference to water as “sweet” is somewhat similar. The second reference gives it a sexual context when Rafat says, “a white tie against/ the mountain’s heaving chest”. While in the third he brings the image of water in form of teardrops of children while “the river-side fills the water”. The nameless “they” when connected with the latter image bring thoughts of fear expressed through the weeping of the children as a reply to the impostors perhaps. It is a release of emotions they have no means of releasing otherwise. Similar to this is when Rafat notes in “Classmate”, “I could almost weep for him” (35). Tears again are an expression of helplessness and of hopelessness felt by the poet not just for his classmate but for the weeping children mentioned above.

In “Drought” the reader understands instantly a lack of water. As it has already been established that water is a life-giving source, one immediately grasps a lack of life within the people due to lack of water. As it says in the poem, “This is an image/ that satisfies both sound and sense. / But how is one to describe/ the gradual drying-up of love?”(36-37) Rafat is associating water with love shared between two beings. He metaphorically connects the drying up of the land with the drying up of love. Without love, relationships don’t survive. Similarly, without water, the land dies. In this instance, the water is both a friend and foe because no water means hardships that only a foe can inflict while the presence of water is a source of pleasure that friends or loved ones provide. As Rafat himself says, “Rain-clouds may come and bless/ the old earth whose make-up has cracked/ and give it a wholesome look again.” (“Drought” 36-37)

However, Rafat has presented rain positively according to it the honor of being a friend to mankind while others like Hosseini and Hemingway have employed it as a signifier of hard times to come. For instance, whenever it rains in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms or The Sun Also Rises, it serves as a potent symbol of the inevitable disintegration of happiness in life. As the rain falls on the roof, Catherine admits that the rain scares her and says that it has a tendency to ruin things for lovers. Of course, no meteorological phenomenon has such power; symbolically, however, Catherine’s fear proves to be prophetic (A Farewell to Arms n.pag.). Or in Hosseini, rain acts as a turning point in Baba Ayub’s life. For, he flourishes economically while he withers in essence as a father and as a human being at having to show moral courage and being able to choose the harder way out by making a decision that may or may not be beneficial for all involved. One other instance is when Mr. Wahdati’s health takes a turn for the worse. Nabi is the narrative voice through whose eyes we get to experience rain for the second time in the novel. As Nabi thinks, “I remember it was raining. Not the galling kind that draws frogs out to croak, but an indecisive drizzle that had come and gone all morning.” (Hosseini n.pag.)

Then comes “Wedding in the Flood” in which Rafat beautifully paints the situation of a wedding procession making its way through the “swollen river”. It says, “This has been a long and difficult day. / The rain nearly ruined everything”, and “It is drizzling again/ as they help the bride into the palankeen.” Or the following phrases, “Will the rain never stop?”, “I’m cold and scared. / The rain will ruin cot, trunk, and looking-glass”, “it is the river I most of all fear”, “the river is rising, so quickly aboard”, “Who has seen such a brown and angry river / or can find words for the way the ferry saws this way and that, and then disgorges / its screaming load?” (134-136) all of the above phrases are a representation of the innermost fears and superstitions of the Pakistani people that Rafat has captured in so few lines. He has introduced us to different perspectives, all of them dreading the rain for it foreshadows something dark lurking in the shadows which as Rafat writes, “And in an eddy, among the willows downstream / the coy bride is truly bedded at last.” The reader understands that the rain foreshadowed death all along. This representation of water is that of a foe and is very similar to Hosseini and Hemingway’s portrayal of it as well.

Similarly, in “Another Monsoon” Rafat again presents water to the reader in the form of rain but unlike in “Wedding in the Flood” the people seem more welcoming towards it. The reader assumes so from the following stanza, “The weather is lovely now. / Clouds have blacked out the blow-torch sun, / and a background thunder croons / of a ricegreen future. / Any moment it will start to rain.” (146)

“Death in the Family” is beautifully crafted. The ending lines when Rafat says, “Seeing his death we think of our own, / and real tears start to the eyes.” (42) This echoes the notion of expressing oneself but it also connects with the religious significance of water for Muslims who bathe the deceased before they bury him/her, purifying the body before a final farewell. The tears than are a reminder of the destiny of all living beings and that is, what lives must one day die and depart from this world. These tears signify the loss felt by the loved ones left behind and acts as a friend in lessening the pain. Especially in “Arrival of the Monsoon”, Rafat uses water as rain falling down “Alive, alive, everything is alive again. / Savour the rain’s coolness on lips and eyes,” and bringing a change in the atmosphere. This change is not just on the outside but also on the inside where the people have given up the mundane routines and come “alive” (55). Similarly, Shamsie has employed this element in the form of “sea” depicting the emotions whether conscious or unconscious. The sea in Shamsie’s Broken Verses is therefore transforming not just situations but also the opinions of the people, representing hope.

Rafat changes direction in “Nightwatchman” when he says, “I see him glance apprehensively/ at the sky where the monsoon flexes/ its muscles, snarls, and shows its teeth, / and with a black mask hiding its face/ prepares to terrorise and loot our lane.” (70) He is, in fact, painting the image of water as a foe, an enemy that seeks sadistic pleasure, humour at the loss of another.

Half Moon the second volume of poems written between 1979-1983, is divided into two parts, the first titled “Poems for a Younger Brother” while the second section remains untitled. Even in the second book, Rafat has not ceased to employ the image of water. What stands out is the way in which Rafat takes a simple image, that of water, and crafts it to mean so much more. In “Flight to London” the narrator says, “I rehearse/ a smile at a passing stranger, but tears/ are knocking hard at the back of the eyes.” (13) He takes us back to his earlier presentation of tears, a release of the sense of loss and helplessness. A reminder that death is inevitable but then he says, “And let the tears come” is the narrator’s acceptance of the loss. Rather than shying away from it or denying the reality, the narrator wishes to be done with it. With this acceptance, he connects the idea of one’s masculinity, for the narrator says, “Soon, I am a man again.” (“Flight to London” 13) with this poem Rafat is also working to remind the reader that sometimes it is easier to shed a tear or two rather than keeping the hurt bottled up, and that men too can cry in moments such as the passing away of a younger sibling, a part of oneself.

“Cancer” is again based on the religious idea of bathing the deceased before the burial. As Rafat writes, “Water and prayer/ have done their work. / sleep sound.” (18) Though a short poem composed of only two stanzas, Rafat is able to convey a larger message. He is able to put forth his primary experience and make it the experience of mankind in general. The succeeding poem reinforces this idea when the narrator (Rafat’s persona) says, “Under the shower/ I think of your last bath. / strange hands, how warm they are, / as they prepare you/ for the final appointment.” (19)Rafat writes in “Mound”, “And the clouds flying southwards. / and our women weeping.” (21) He presents how even the clouds are conspiring against the loved ones left behind as they accompany the deceased in his journey to the other world.

The portrayal of water as rain in “Forecast for Tonight” is poetic when Rafat says, “lightening-flashes on the horizon/ almost continuous. / In a couple of hours/ the sky will be overcast / and later tonight/ there will be rain.” And then he says, “Let the world in/ which we kept out all June.” (28) Rafat is focused on rain or water as a friend that you welcome with open arms, a house guest for whom you wait anxiously and pleasantly. Rafat remarkably writes, “But when the water rises, / and rises, and will not be stopped, / then something in us responds, / to that brown impatience” (“Living by the River” 174). He beautifully describes the seasonal and tidal variations in rivers and how these natural changes bring about a difference in human beings as well. How there are “swim days” when we can simply“dangle” our legs in the water and feel at peace while that same body of water can make us cower and stay back if it keeps rising and does not stop. Rafat suggests how humans have the intuitive sense to realize that the rising water is not a good sign but a prophecy of brewing trouble.

“Rain Outside” again stresses the idea of rain as a presence felt by the people “Hours, days, what does it matter? / It lasted long enough to settle / the dust; I could even feel / the sap rising in the gripped bars”, and when the narrator says, “I looked out, / but the rain had stopped. / the last drops glistened on / the roofs of the impounded cars.” In this rain seems more than an element of nature. Rafat gives it that strength that only characters can possess; it is as if rain too is a person going about its business that makes one uneasy when placed in the same room with a foe under difficult times. There is an element of humour in “Brimming Over” when the narrator says “God send us rain, we prayed. Our bluff / has been called” or “Our wishes are like poems, never exactly right, / sometimes richer than reckoning, but always short / of the actual”. Rafat is in fact making fun of the people for always wishing for things, knowing that what one wishes for, may not be for the best, and later feeling bitter when one realizes the cons of wishing for it. Similarly, rain is something that the Pakistani people are constantly wishing for and Rafat has keenly observed and presented this sensibility through the poem.

In short, with Rafat, the question is not whether water as an image, as an idea is a friend or a foe. The question is how Rafat balances the binary opposites of water as a friend and a foe. The poems discussed above are all proof that Rafat is heavily influenced by water not only as an element of nature or as a phenomenon but also as an external force that makes his homeland beautiful. Regardless of whether or not water is a life-giver or life-taker, Rafat is in awe of the natural element and seeks to understand its magnificence better through his poetry.

Having thoroughly analyzed Taufiq Rafat’s poems one can say that the beauty lies not in concluding but in enjoying the journey to the end. For it matters not if his presentation of water is that of a friend or foe, what matters is that he succeeds in presenting the positive and negative aspects of it leaving his readers with the notion that his poems are a means of transforming individuals and educating them in a skillful manner. The reader is awestruck like the poet having realized that Rafat’s presentation of water is but a metaphor for the upheavals of life. Like rain, teardrops, or stormy rivers, life has its good days and bad. One cries in good times just as in bad and welcomes rain like tears in happiness while curses at it in the bad. 

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. n.p. n.d. n.pag. Print.

Hosseini, Khaled. And the Mountains Echoed. Britain: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013. n.pag. Print.

Rafat, Taufiq. “A Positive Region”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 20. Print.

---. “Another Monsoon”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 146. Print.

---. “Arrival of the Monsoon”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 55. Print.

---. “Brimming Over”. Half Moon. Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 98. Print.

---. “Cancer”. Half Moon. Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 19. Print.

---. “Classmate”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 35. Print.

---. “Death in the Family”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 42. Print.

---. “Drought”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 36-37. Print.

---. “Flight to London”. Half Moon. Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 13. Print.

---. “Forecast for Tonight”. Half Moon. Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 28. Print.

---. “Karachi, 1955”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 6. Print.

---. “Living by the River”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 174. Print.

---. “Nightwatchman”.  Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 70. Print.

---. “The Village”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 31-32. Print.

---. “Wedding in the Flood”. Arrival of the Monsoon. Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985. 134-136. Print.

---. “Mound”. Half Moon.Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 21. Print.

---. “Rain Outside”. Half Moon. Taufiq Rafat Foundation, 2008. 131. Print.

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