Speak, For Your Lips Are Free

 

Speak, For Your Lips Are Free

"بول کہ لب آزاد ہیں تیرے

بول کہ جاں اب تک تیری ہے"

— Faiz Ahmed Faiz

“Speak, for your lips are free.

Speak, for your life is still your own.”

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There are times in life when silence feels safer than words. When the room is heavy with someone else’s authority, when love turns into control, when society whispers, “keep your head down, don’t cause trouble.”

But silence has a hidden cost. It slowly chips away at the soul. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of the most powerful poetic voices of the 20th century, reminded us that as long as breath remains, the right — and the duty — to speak remains too.

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Why Speaking Up Matters

🌱 Speaking is Self-Affirmation

Every word you say is a declaration: I exist. I matter. My feelings are real. Silence may keep others comfortable, but it risks making you invisible — even to yourself.

🌍 Silence Protects Oppression, Speech Disrupts It

From workplaces where injustice festers, to homes where love is twisted into dominance, silence becomes the glue that holds inequality in place. Speaking, even if it shakes, is a crack in that wall. Think of movements around the world — civil rights, women’s suffrage, climate activism — none of them began with silence. They began with one trembling but unshakable voice.

💛 Voice is Healing

When you name your pain, you begin to untangle it. Suppressed feelings grow heavier in the dark; words are light. Even if speaking doesn’t change the person who hurt you, it changes you. Each time you honor your truth, you reclaim a piece of yourself.

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The Cost of Submissive Silence

Many of us are taught that quiet endurance is noble. In some cultures, silence is sold as loyalty, patience, or grace. But let’s be honest: silence often serves the abuser, not the abused.

To stay quiet when boundaries are crossed is to teach the world that your worth can be bargained with. Submission may avoid conflict, but it creates a deeper conflict inside — between who you are and who you’re forced to pretend to be.

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The Universal Language of Voice

Whether you’re a young woman in Lahore, a worker in New York, a student in Nairobi, or a mother in São Paulo — the struggle to be heard is universal. And so is the liberation that comes with speech.

To speak is not just to make sound. It’s to draw a line: Here is my dignity. Here is my boundary. Here is my truth.

Even if the world doesn’t change overnight, you do. And sometimes, that is the revolution.

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A Small Daily Practice

If speaking up feels impossible, start small. Each day, try:

Writing one unspoken thought in a journal.

Saying one kind truth to yourself in the mirror.

Practicing one firm boundary: “I don’t deserve to be spoken to this way.”

Tiny words grow into bigger voices. And voices, when joined, reshape worlds.

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Closing Thought

Faiz’s verse isn’t just about poetry. It’s a reminder, across borders and generations, that silence may keep you hidden — but speech keeps you alive.

So today, wherever you are reading this:

Speak. Even softly. Even trembling. Speak — because your lips are free, and your life is still your own.

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Tags: #Empowerment #Voice #Healing #GlobalVoices #Courage

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