Khatir Afridi

Khatir Afridi was born as "Misree Khan" in 1929, at Landi Kotal, British India, and died on August 24th 1961. Misree Khan was born to Afridi parents of the Zakka Khel clan.He was a prominent poet of the Pashto language but died at a young age. He left behind a son, who has compiled all of his father's work into a volume.

Khatir was a few days old when his father died but his grandfather and uncle reared him very well and raised him like a son. Khatir, unfortunately, could not go to school. He took up a job at the Khyber Rifle's camp as a gardener and later on entered the line of private business. But he was fond of poetry and he learnt to compose verses to the tunes of the rabab which was played by the maestro, Bagh-i-Haram, a resident of Malikdeen Khel who lived very close to Khatir.

Qayum Kausar Afridi, his closest companion, once said, "One day I asked Khatir to give me his manuscript so that I could preserve it. I kept it with me till his only son, Javed Khan, grew up and was able to publish it. Khatir dressed simply and would carry a pistol with him according to the tribal tradition. He always wore a black turban but was a polite and calm person. His poetry is simple and spontaneous." ----

One of his poems is:

khe shola deera chi inkar de o kro

zama da wara umar kar de o kro

halak chi naha ooli gori warta

ta chi makh pet kro no gozar de o kro

ze la se ne wayem chi dagh day pa zre

te la peghor kri chi deedar de o kro

zama da zre daghona hala shmara

ke da de hpeli khanda shmar de o kro

khatira ze da ta na cha ori yrm

war ba de rashi kho ke war de o kro.

External links

* [http://www.afghanan.net/poets/khatir.htm Afghanan.Net profile of Khatir Afridi]