Hamdardi ba-binavayaan - Do we really feel for them?

The current situation of the displaced people of Swat reminded me of the following poem by Shaykh Sa'adi rahimahullah, which was there in our Persian syllabus. Although the poem is about the famine that struck Damascus - as a result of which massive devastation of life occurred -, I am able to relate it to the situation of those who have become 'displaced' within their own homeland:

Chunaan qehet-saali shud ander damishq
Keh yaaraan faramoosh kardand ishq

(When famine struck Damascus, lovers forgot their love)

Chunaan aasmaan bar-zameen shud bakheel
Keh lub tar na kardand zar'ae wa nakheel

(When heavens became stringent with waters, the lips of the seed and date trees remained parched)

Bay-khuusheed sar chashma-hayi qadeem
Namaanad aab, juz aab-e ashk-e yateem

(Ancient rivers dried up; no water but that of the orphan's tears was left)

Nabuudi bay-juz aah bayweh zani
Agar bar shudi duudi az ruuzani

(No voice except for that of the widow's rose from casements like smoke)

Na dar kooh sabzi na dar baagh shaKh
MalaKh buustaan khurd wa mardum malaKh

(No mountain nor no graden trees were green. Locusts devoured the garden and men devoured locusts!)

Dar-aan haal peesh aamadam duusti
Kaz o maanday bar istakhaan poosti

(In these conditions a friend of mine, who had no flesh left on his bones came before me)

Wa gar che bay-muknat qavi haal buud
Khudawand jaah o zar o maal buud

(Although he was rich and God had blessed him with great wealth)

Bay-oo guftam aei yaar-e paakeezay khui
Cheh dar mandagi peeshat aamad, bugui

(I said to him: "O friend of noble attribute, what has befallen you? Say!"

Bay-ghurreed e bar mann 'aqalat kujaast
Cho daani o pursi suaalat khataast

(He roared at me, 'where is thy reason, for the question you ask is indeed flawed!')

Nabeeni keh sakhti bay-ghayat raseed?
Mashaqqat bay-hadd-e-nihaayat raseed?

('Do not thou seest how difficulty hath reached its limits? And hardship now knoweth no bound?')

Bay-oo guftam aakhir tura baak neest
Kushad ze har-jaai keh taryaak neest

(I said to him: "what is it that worries you? You can kill all that knows no antidote"

Gar az neesti deegari shud halaak
Tura hast, bat ra ze toofaan che baak

(Even if others are destroyed, you have your goblet (made of stone that does not sink in water) with you in the tempest, what is your problem)

Nigeh karde ranjeede dar mann faqeeh
Nigeh kardan-e aaqil ander safeeh

(The knowledgeable looked at me with sadness; the wise looked at the unwise)

Keh mard ar che bar saahil ast aei rafeeq
Nay-aasayad wa duustaanash ghareeq

(Although a man may have reached the shore, he cannot be at ease as long as his friends are drowned)

Mann az bi-navaai ne'em ruui zard
Gham-e binavaayaan rukham zard kard

(No, it's not poverty that gives palour to my face. It is the sorrow of the unfortunate that makes my visage pale)

Nakhwahad ke beenad khirad-mand reesh
Na bar 'azv-e mardum na bar-azv-e kheesh

(No wise man would like to see a wound either on his or on his people's limb)

Cho beenam ke darweesh-e miskeen na-khurd
Bay kaam anderam luqmay zehar ast o durd

(When I see a poor man who does not eat (due to his impoverished condition), the morsel in my mouth becomes poison and dregs.)