Yates wrote a series presenting Crazy Jane as a Wise dame. I present Crazy Jamalo as a deranged dame.
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او جمالو
My native village in Punjab
Could boast of one Jamalo
A crazy lass of uncertain age
Loaded and yet looking hollow.
Roam the streets she did
With her pajama string hanging
Inside were what everyone around
Remembered as often banging
Jamalo would pull the string open
No sooner than saw a man coming
Men generally fumed and ranted
Yet stole a glance repelling.
Women she met with disdain
Shrank and shriveled in frame
Withered and seared just passed them by
Holding her shalwar –string in shame.
Jamalo, not unlike Jane
Said this of love intent
“Love has pitched its mansion
In the place of excrement !”
Jane’s words in Yates poem
That is what I’ve given in the quote
Like tables in math, all lovers
Must read and learn by rote.
Author Note: This poem could not have been written in Urdu. A translation would not suffice. Who would want to read the story of the crazed Jamalo جمالو of Kot Sarang wandering about in the streets holding her shalwar string in her hand?
