ਤਤਕਰਾ

ਅਧਵਾਟੇ

ਉਂਗਲੀ ਕੋਈ ਰੰਗੀਨ

ਮੇਰੀ ਬੱਚੀ ! ਮੇਰਾ ਦੇਸ਼ !

ਸੁਫ਼ਨੇ ਵਿਚ ਕੋਈ ਆਵੇ

ਕੇਹਾ ਰਹਿੰਨਾ ਏ' ਨਿਤ ਵਾਂਢੇ

ਅੱਜ ਮਿਲੇ ਤਾਂ ਮੈਂ ਜੀਵਾਂ

ਨਿੱਕਾ ਰੱਬ

ਕਹੇ ਤਕ ਬੈਠਾ ਮੈਂ ਨੈਣ

ਕਦੇ ਢੋਕ ਸਾੜ੍ਹੀ ਦਰ ਅਛ ਢੋਲਾ

ਨਿੱਕਾ ਨਿੱਕਾ ਦਿਲ ਕਰਨਾ

ਮੈਂ ਖ਼ਿਆਲ ਤੇਰੇ ਨਾਲ ਹਿਲੀਆਂ

ਤੇਰੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਪ੍ਰੀਤੀ ਚਿਰੋਕੀ

ਲਹਿਰਾਂ

ਮੰਗਤੀ

ਪਸ਼ੂ

ਕੋਈ ਆਇਆ ਸਾਡੇ ਵੇਹੜੇ

ਗੱਲ ਸੁਣੀ ਜਾ

ਅਗਿਉ ਅਗੇ ਚਲਣਾ

ਹੱਥ

ਸਾਡੇ ਵੇਹੜੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਵਰ੍ਹਿਆ ਨੀ

ਸਤਿਸੰਗ

ਸੁੰਗੜੀ ਵਿਚ ਕਲਾਵੇ

ਇਸ਼ਕ ਨੇ ਕਿਤਨਾ ਕਮੀਨਾ ਕਰ ਦਿਤਾ

ਤਵੀ

ਤਾਹਨਾ

ਮੈਂ ਜਾਤਾ

ਕੁਝ ਚਿਰ ਪਿੱਛੋਂ

ਇਹ ਦਿਲ ਹੈ

ਇਕ ਦੋਹੜਾ

ਕਨਸੋ

ਯਾਦ

ਮਾਹੀਆ

ਮੋਹ

ਨਿੱਕੀ ਜਿੰਦ ਮੇਰੀ

ਨਿੱਕੀ ਜਿਹੀ ਮੈਂ ਕਲੀ

ਸਾਰ ਲਈਂ ਅੱਜ ਨੀ

ਕੋਇਲ ਨੂੰ

ਦੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਮੈਂ ਜੀਵਾਂ

ਅਧਾ ਹਨੇਰੇ ਅਧਾ ਸਵੇਰੇ

INTRODUCTION

By S. Kapur Singh, M.A. (Cantab); M.A. (Pb.); I.C.S.

Sardar Mohan Singh, of Panj Darya, presents another bouquet of his poems to the Punjabi public. To those who are acquainted with his previous works, and their number is large, the present collection of his poems will reveal all the variety of colour and the richness of fragrance that has characterised his past lyrics, and in addition a newness and ruggedness indicating not only the maturer character of the personality of the poet, but also the variety and depth of his acquaintance with the modern European poetry. As a lyrcist Mohan Singh has already shown potentialities, but in these poems he also reveals the sadness of experience, the disillusionment of Maya, the corners and unevenness of the hard realities of life, as contrasted with the dream-land composed of idealism and the fancies of the poet. This latter aspect, to my mind, demarcates the modern poetry as it is understood in Northern European

countries, and the traditional poetry of fixed forms and standardized sentiments.

2

From the sixteenth century onwards, Indian literature which had hitherto been written almost entirely in Sanskrit, increasingly finds its natural expression in the vernaculars of the people of India. With the advent of the European peoples, the Indian literature received a new stimulus, and Punjabi has been no exception to it. Conversely, there have been numerous European writers who have felt drawn towards India and Indian literature and have sought to express their feelings for Indian life and culture in English. Sir Edwin Arnold, whose celebrated poem, the Light of Asia, was inspired by India and better known still, Henri Derozio, the author of the Fakir of Jungheera, and others, palpably derive from Indian source and are influenced by Indian models Our present day literature, however, cannot claim this privilege of having inspired any European work of distinction, though it owes most of its own colour and pattern to its prototypes conceived and evolved by European writers. This one sided movement is also markedly in evidence in the present poems of Mohan Singh.

3

Many people have attempted to say in what way modern poetry is distinguished from the old poetry. But as I see it, a poet is to be judged not so much by the historical period in which he lived. But by evaluating as to how far he has successfully attempted to express sensibilities of