Urdu Poetry Translations (updated)A Poem by Michael R. BurchUrdu Poetry: English Translations
On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib, Withered Roses
My tears welled up like dew, Last Night
Intimacy
Strange Currents
And even the mightiest rivers found accessible refuge in me; And how sweetly I remember you�"oh, my wild, delectable love!�" And while I’m half-convinced that folks adore me in this town, You lost the battle, my coward friend, my craven enemy, Lost in the wastelands of vast love, I was an eager traveler, The Condition of My Heart
Failures I was unable to relate My Apologies, Sona
The monsoons are unseasonal here. My poems' pitfalls are sometimes sodden. My apologies, however, I have often cracked toenails against them! As for the streetlamp at the intersection, If you were inconvenienced, Tonight
Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight! What Happened to Them?
Those who were coming at dawn, when dawn never arrived ... Those I awaited each night on moonless paths, Who are these strangers surrounding me now? Those who built these blazing buildings, what happened to them? NOTE: This poignant poem was written about the 1947 partition of India into two nations: India and Pakistan. I take the following poem to be about the aftermath of the division. Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come as you are, forget appearances! Is your hair untamable, your part uneven, your bodice unfastened? Never mind. Come as you are, forget appearances! Skip with quicksilver steps across the grass. If your feet glisten with dew, if your anklets slip, if your beaded necklace slides off? Never mind. Skip with quicksilver steps across the grass. Do you see the clouds enveloping the sky? Flocks of cranes erupt from the riverbank, fitful gusts ruffle the fields, anxious cattle tremble in their stalls. Do you see the clouds enveloping the sky? You loiter in vain over your toilet lamp; it flickers and dies in the wind. Who will care that your eyelids have not been painted with lamp-black, when your pupils are darker than thunderstorms? You loiter in vain over your toilet lamp; it flickers and dies in the wind. Come as you are, forget appearances! If the wreath lies unwoven, who cares? If the bracelet is unfastened, let it fall. The sky grows dark; it is late. Come as you are, forget appearances! Unfit Gifts by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch At sunrise, I cast my nets into the sea, dredging up the strangest and most beautiful objects from the depths ... some radiant like smiles, some glittering like tears, others flushed like brides’ cheeks. When I returned, staggering under their weight, my love was relaxing in her garden, idly tearing leaves from flowers. Hesitant, I placed all I had produced at her feet, silently awaiting her verdict. She glanced down disdainfully, then pouted: "What are these bizarre things? I have no use for them!" I bowed my head, humiliated, and thought: "Truly, I did not contend for them; I did not purchase them in the marketplace; they are unfit gifts for her!" That night I flung them, one by one, into the street, like refuse. The next morning travelers came, picked them up and carted them off to exotic countries. The Seashore Gathering by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch On the seashores of endless worlds, earth's children converge. The infinite sky is motionless, the restless waters boisterous. On the seashores of endless worlds earth's children gather to dance with joyous cries and pirouettes. They build sand castles and play with hollow shells. They weave boats out of withered leaves and laughingly float them out over the vast deep. Earth's children play gaily on the seashores of endless worlds. They do not know, yet, how to cast nets or swim. Divers fish for pearls and merchants sail their ships, while earth's children skip, gather pebbles and scatter them again. They are unaware of hidden treasures, nor do they know how to cast nets, yet. The sea surges with laughter, smiling palely on the seashore. Death-dealing waves sing the children meaningless songs, like a mother lullabying her baby's cradle. The sea plays with the children, smiling palely on the seashore. On the seashores of endless worlds earth's children meet. Tempests roam pathless skies, ships lie wrecked in uncharted waters, death wanders abroad, and still the children play. On the seashores of endless worlds there is a great gathering of earth's children. This Dog by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Each morning this dog, who has become quite attached to me, sits silently at my feet until, gently caressing his head, I acknowledge his company. This simple recognition gives my companion such joy he shudders with sheer delight. Among all languageless creatures he alone has seen through man entire�" has seen beyond what is good or bad in him to such a depth he can lay down his life for the sake of love alone. Now it is he who shows me the way through this unfathomable world throbbing with life. When I see his deep devotion, his offer of his whole being, I fail to comprehend ... How, through sheer instinct, has he discovered whatever it is that he knows? With his anxious piteous looks he cannot communicate his understanding and yet somehow has succeeded in conveying to me out of the entire creation the true loveworthiness of man. Being by Momin Khan Momin loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You are so close to me that no one else ever can be. NOTE: There is a legend that the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib offered all his diwan (poetry collections) in exchange for this one sher (couplet) by Momin Khan Momin. Does the couplet mean "be as close" or "be, at all"? Does it mean "You are with me in a way that no one else can ever be?" Or does it mean that no one else can ever exist as truly as one's true love? Or does this sher contain an infinite number of elusive meanings, like love itself? Being (II) by Momin Khan Momin loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You alone are with me when I am alone. You are beside me when I am beside myself. You are as close to me as everyone else is afar. You are so close to me that no one else ever can be. Perhaps by Momin Khan Momin loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The cohesiveness between us, you may remember or perhaps not. Our solemn oaths of faithfulness, you may remember, or perhaps forgot. If something happened that was not to your liking, the shrinking away that produces silence, you may remember, or perhaps not. Listen, the sagas of so many years, the promises you made amid time's onslaught, which you now fail to mention, you may remember or perhaps not. These new resentments, those often rehashed complaints, these lighthearted and displeasing stories, you may remember, or perhaps forgot. Some seasons ago we shared love and desire, we shared joy ... That we once were dear friends, you may have perhaps forgot. Now if we come together, by fate or by chance, to express old loyalties ... Our every shared breath, all our sighs and regrets, you may remember, or perhaps not. Climate Change by Nasir Kazmi loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The songs of our silenced lips are different. The expressions of our regretful hearts are different. In milder climes our grief was more tolerable, But the burdens we bear now are different. O, walkers of awareness's road, keep your watch! The obstacles strewn on this stony path are different. We neither fear separation, nor desire union; The anxieties of my rebellious heart are different. In the first leaf-fall only flowers fluttered from twigs; This year the omens of autumn are different. This world lacks the depth to understand my heartache; Please endow me with melodies, for my cry is different! One disconcerting glance bared my being; Now in barren fields my visions are different. No more troops, nor flags. Neither money, nor fame. The marks of the monarchs on this land are different. Men are not martyred for their beloveds these days. The youths of my youth were so very different! Nasir Kazmi Couplets When I was a child learning to write my first scribblings were your name. ―Nasir Kazmi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch When my feet lost the path where was your hand? ―Nasir Kazmi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Everything I found is yours; everything I lost is also yours. ―Nasir Kazmi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Memory by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as performed by Iqbal Bano loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch In the wastelands of solitude, my love, the echoes of your voice quiver, the mirages of your lips waver. In the deserts of alienation, out of the expanses of distance and isolation's debris the fragrant jasmines and roses of your presence delicately blossom. Now from somewhere nearby, the warmth of your breath rises, smoldering forth an exotic perfume―gently, languorously. Now far-off, across the distant horizon, drop by shimmering drop, fall the glistening dews of your beguiling glances. With such tenderness and affection�"oh my love!�" your memory has touched my heart's cheek so that it now seems the sun of separation has set; the night of blessed union has arrived. Speak! by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Speak, if your lips are free. Speak, if your tongue is still your own. While your body is still upright, Speak if your life is still your own. When Autumn Came by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch So it was that autumn came to flay the trees, to strip them nude, to rudely abase their slender dark bodies. Fall fell in vengeance on the dying leaves, flung them down to the floor of the forest where anyone could trample them to mush undeterred by their sighs of protest. The birds that herald spring were exiled from their songs�" the notes ripped from their sweet throats, they plummeted to the earth below, undone even before the hunter strung his bow. Please, gods of May, have mercy! Bless these disintegrating corpses with the passion of your resurrection; allow their veins to pulse with blood again. Let at least one tree remain green. Let one bird sing. Last Night (II) by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Last night, your lost memory returned ... as spring steals silently into barren gardens, as cool breezes stir desert sands, as an ailing man suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason ... Ghazal by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Not the blossomings of songs nor the adornments of music: I am the voice of my own heart breaking. You toy with your long, dark curls while I remain captive to my dark, pensive thoughts. We congratulate ourselves that we two are different but this weakness has burdened us both with inchoate grief. Now you are here, and I find myself bowing�" as if sadness is a blessing, and longing a sacrament. I am a fragment of sound rebounding; you are the walls impounding my echoes. The Mistake by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch All your life, O Ghalib, You kept repeating the same mistake: Your face was dirty But you were obsessed with cleaning the mirror! Inquiry by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The miracle of your absence is that I found myself endlessly searching for you. It's Only My Heart! by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch It’s only my heart, not unfeeling stone, so why be dismayed when it throbs with pain? It was made to suffer ten thousand darts; why let one more torment impede us? Couplets by Jaun Elia loose translations by Michael R. Burch I am strange�"so strange that I self-destructed and don't regret it. ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The wound is deep�"companions, friends�"embrace me! What, did you not even bother to stay? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch My nature is so strange that today I felt relieved when you didn't arrive. ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Night and day I awaited myself; now you return me to myself. ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Greeting me this cordially, have you so easily erased my memory? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Your lips have provided thousands of answers; so what is the point of complaining now? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Perhaps I haven't fallen in love with anyone, but at least I convinced them! ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The city of mystics has become bizarre: everyone is wary of majesty, have you heard? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Did you just say "Love is eternal"? Is this the end of us? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You are drawing very close to me! Have you decided to leave? ―Jaun Elia, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Intimacy by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I held the Sun, Stars and Moon at a distance till the time your hands touched mine. Now I am not a feather to be easily detached: instruct the hurricanes and tornados to observe their limits! The Mad Moon by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Stars have a habit of showing off, but the mad moon sojourns in darkness. Body Language by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Your body’s figures are written in cursive! How will I read you? Hand me the book! Insatiable by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch This mighty ocean, so deep and vast! If it sates my thirst, how long can it last? Honor by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Achievements may fade but the name remains strong; walls may buckle but the roof stays on. On a pile of corpses a child stands alone and declares that his family still lives on! Dust in the Wind by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch This is how I introduce myself to questioners: Pick up a handful of dust, then blow ... Dissembler by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch In your eyes this, in your heart that, on your lips something else? If this is how you are, impress someone else! Rumor (M)ill by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I heard rumors my health was bad; still it was prying people who made me ill. The Vortex by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I am the river whose rapids form a vortex; You were wise to avoid my banks. Homebound by Rahat Indori loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch If people fear what they meet at every turn, why do they ever leave the house? Becoming One by Amir Khusrow loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I have become you, as you have become me; I am your body, you my Essence. Now no one can ever say that you are someone else, or that I am anything less than your Presence! I Am a Pagan by Amir Khusrow loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I am a pagan disciple of love: I need no creeds. My every vein has become taut, like a tuned wire. I do not need the Brahman's girdle. Leave my bedside, ignorant physician! The only cure for love is the sight of the patient's beloved: there is no other medicine he needs! If our boat lacks a pilot, let there be none: we have god in our midst: we do not fear the sea! The people say Khusrow worships idols: True! True! But he does not need other people's approval; he does not need the world's. (My translation above was informed by a translation of Dr. Hadi Hasan.) Amir Khusrow’s elegy for his mother loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Wherever you shook the dust from your feet is my relic of paradise! Paradise by Amir Khusrow loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch If there is an earthly paradise, It's here! It's here! It's here! Mystery by Munir Niazi loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch She was a mystery: Her lips were parched ... but her eyes were two unfathomable oceans. I continued delaying ... by Munir Niazi loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I continued delaying ... the words I should speak the promises I should keep the one I should dial despite her cruel denial I continued delaying ... the shoulder I must offer the hand I must proffer the untraveled lanes we may not see again I continued delaying ... long strolls through the seasons for my own selfish reasons the remembrances of lovers to erase thoughts of others I continued delaying ... to save someone dear from eternities unclear to make her aware of our reality here I continued delaying ... Couplets by Mir Taqi Mir loose translations by Michael R. Burch Sharpen the barbs of every thorn, O lunatic desert! Perhaps another hobbler, limping by on blistered feet, follows me! ―Mir Taqi Mir, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch My life is a bubble, this world an illusion. ―Mir Taqi Mir, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Selflessness has gotten me nowhere: I neglected myself far too long. ―Mir Taqi Mir, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I know now that I know nothing, and it only took me a lifetime to learn! ―Mir Taqi Mir, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Love's just beginning, so why do you whine? Why not wait and watch how things unwind! ―Mir Taqi Mir, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come! by Gulzar loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come, let us construct night over the monumental edifice of silence. Come, let us clothe ourselves in the winding sheets of darkness, where we'll ignite our bodies' incandescent wax. As the midnight dew dances its delicate ballet, let us not disclose the slightest whispers of our breath! Lost in night's mists, let us lie immersed in love's fragrance, absorbing our bodies' musky aromas! Let us rise like rustling spirits ... Old Habits Die Hard by Gulzar loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The habit of breathing is an odd tradition. Why struggle so to keep on living? The body shudders, the eyes veil, yet the feet somehow keep moving. Why this journey, this restless, relentless flowing? For how many weeks, months, years, centuries shall we struggle to keep on living, keep on living? Habits are such strange things, such hard things to break! Inconclusive by Gulzar loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch A body lies on a white bed�" dead, abandoned, a forsaken corpse they forgot to bury. They concluded its death was not their concern. I hope they return and recognize me, then bury me so I can breathe. Wasted by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You have noticed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips ... In whose imagination I have lost everything. Countless by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I recounted the world's countless griefs by recounting your image countless times. Do Not Ask by Faiz Ahmed Faiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Do not ask, my love, for the love that we shared before: You existed, I told myself, so existence shone. For a moment the only light that I knew, alone, was yours; worldly griefs remained dark, distant, afar. Spring shone, as revealed in your face, but what did I know? Beyond your bright eyes, what delights could the sad world hold? Had I won you, cruel Fate would have ceded, no longer bold. Yet all this was not to be, though I wished it so. The world knows sorrows beyond love’s brief dreams betrayed, and pleasures beyond all sweet, idle ideals of romance: the dread dark spell of countless centuries and chance is woven with silk and satin and gold brocade. Bodies are sold everywhere for a pittance�"it’s true! Besmeared with dirt and bathed in bright oceans of blood, Crawling from infested ovens, a gory cud. My gaze returns to you: what else can I do? Your beauty haunts me still, and will to the last. But the world is burdened by sorrows beyond those of love, By pleasures beyond romance. So please do not demand a love that is over, and past. Every Once in a While by Amjad Islam Amjad loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Every once in a while, immersed in these muggy nights when all earth’s voices seem to have fallen into the bruised-purple silence of half-sleep, I awaken from a wonderful dream to see through the veil that drifts between us that you too are companionless and wide awake. First Rendezvous by Amjad Islam Amjad loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch This story of the earth is as old as the universe, as old as the birth of the first day and night. This story of the sky is included in the words we casually uttered, you and I, and yet it remains incomplete, till the end of sight. This earth and all the scenes it contains remain witnesses to the moment when you first held my hand as we watched the world unfolding, together. This world became the focus for the first rendezvous between us. Impossible and Improbable Visions by Amjad Islam Amjad loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Eyes interpret visions, rainbow auras waver; similar scenes appear different to individual eyes, as innumerable oases coexist in one desert or a single thought acquires countless shapes. I Have to Find My Lost Star by Amjad Islam Amjad loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Searching the emptiest of skies overflowing with innumerable stars, I have to find the one that belongs to me. ... Gazing at galaxies beyond galaxies, all glorious with evolving wonder, I ponder her name, finding no sign to remember. ... Lost things, they say, are sometimes found in the same accumulations of dust where they once vanished. I have to find the lost star that belongs to me. O God! by Qateel Shifai loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Torture my heart, O God! If you so desire, leave me a madman, O God! Have I asked for the moon and stars? Enlighten my heart and give my eyes sight, O God! We have all seen this disk called the sun, Now give us a real dawn, O God! Either relieve our pains here on this earth Or make my heart granite, O God! Hereafter by Qateel Shifai loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Since we met and parted, how can we sleep hereafter? Lost in each others' remembrance, must we not weep hereafter? Deluges of our tears will keep us awake all night: Our eyelashes strung with strands of pearls, hereafter! Thoughts of our separation will sear our grieving hearts Unless we immerse them in the cooling moonlight, hereafter! If the storm also deceives us, crying Qateel!, We will scuttle our boats near forsaken shores, hereafter. Picnic by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch My friends laugh elsewhere on the beach while I sit here, alone, counting the waves, writing and rewriting your name in the sand ... Confession by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Your image overwhelmed my vision. As the long nights passed, I became obsessed with your visage. Then came the moment when I quietly placed my lips to your picture ... Rain by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Why shiver alone in the rain, maiden? Embrace the one in whose warming love your body and mind would be drenched! There are no rains higher than the rains of Love, after which the bright rainbows of separation will glow with the mysteries of hues. My Body's Moods by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I long for the day when you'll be obsessed with me, when, forgetting the world, you'll miss me with a passion and stop complaining about my reticence! Then I may forget all other transactions and liabilities to realize my world in your arms, letting my body's moods guide me. In that moment beyond boundaries and limitations as we defy the conventions of veil and turban, let's try our luck and steal a taste of the forbidden fruit! Moon by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch All of us passengers, we share the same fate. And yet I'm alone here on earth, and she alone there in the sky! Vanity by Parveen Shakir loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch His world is so simple, so very different from mine. So distinct�"his dreams and desires. He speaks rarely. This morning he wrote: "I saw some lovely flowers and thought of you." Ha! I know my aging face is no orchid ... but how I wish I could believe whatever he says, however momentarily! Come by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come, even with anguish, even to torture my heart; Come, even if only to abandon me to torment again. Come, if not for our past commerce, Then to faithfully fulfill the ancient barbaric rituals. Who else can recite the reasons for our separation? Come, despite your reluctance, to continue the litanies, the ceremony. Respect, even if only a little, the depth of my love for you; Come, someday, to offer me consolation as well. Too long you have deprived me of the pathos of longing; Come again, my love, if only to make me weep. Till now, my heart still suffers some slight expectation; So come, snuff out even the last flickering torch of hope! I Cannot Remember by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I once was a poet too (you gave life to my words), but now I cannot remember Since I have forgotten you (my love!), my art too I cannot remember Yesterday consulting my heart, I learned that your hair, lips, mouth, I cannot remember In the city of the intellect insanity is silence But now your sweet, spontaneous voice, its fluidity, I cannot remember Once I was unfamiliar with wrecking balls and ruins But now the cultivation of gardens, I cannot remember Now everyone shops at the store selling arrows and quivers But neglects his own body, the client he cannot remember Since time has brought me to a desert of such arid forgetfulness Even your name may perish; I cannot remember In this narrow state of being, lacking a country, even the abandonment of my fellow countrymen, I cannot remember The Infidel by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Ten thousand desires: each one worth dying for ... So many fulfilled, and yet still I yearn for more! Being in love, for me there was no difference between living and dying ... and so I lived each dying breath watching you, my lovely Infidel, sighing afar. Ghazal by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Life becomes even more complicated when a man can’t think like a man ... What irrationality makes me so dependent on her that I rush off an hour early, then get annoyed when she's "late"? My lover is so striking! She demands to be seen. The mirror reflects only her image, yet still dazzles and confounds my eyes. Love’s stings have left me the deep scar of happiness while she hovers above me, illuminated. She promised not to torment me, but only after I was mortally wounded. How easily she “repents,” my lovely slayer! Ghazal by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch It’s time for the world to hear Ghalib again! May these words and their shadows like doors remain open. Tonight the watery mirror of stars appears while night-blooming flowers gather where beauty rests. She who knows my desire is speaking, or at least her lips have recently moved me. Why is grief the fundamental element of night when blindness falls as the distant stars rise? Tell me, how can I be happy, vast oceans from home when mail from my beloved lies here, so recently opened? Abstinence? by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Let me get drunk in the mosque, Or show me the place where God abstains! Step Carefully! by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Step carefully Ghalib―this world is merciless! Here people will "adore" you to win your respect ... or your downfall. Bleedings by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Love requires patience but lust is relentless; what colors must my heart bleed before it expires? There are more English translations of poems by Mirza Ghalib later on this page. No Explanation! (I) by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Please don't ask me how deeply it hurt! Her sun shone so bright, even the shadows were burning! No Explanation! (II) by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Please don't ask me how it happened! She didn't bind me, nor did I free myself. Alone by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Why are you sad that she goes on alone, Faraz? After all, you said yourself that she was unique! Separation by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Faraz, if it were easy to be apart, would Angels have to separate body from soul? Time by Ahmad Faraz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch What if my face has more wrinkles than yours? I am merely well-worn by Time! Miraji Epigrams I'm obsessed with this thought: does God possess mercy? ―Miraji, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come, see this dance, the immaculate dance of the devadasi! ―Miraji, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Excerpts from “Going, Going ...” by Miraji loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Each unfolding vista, each companion’s kindnesses, every woman’s subtle sorceries, everything that transiently lies within our power quickly dissolves and we are left with only a cupped flame, flickering ... Should we call that “passion”? The moon scrapes the horizon and who can measure a star’s breadth? The time allotted a life, if we calculate it, is really only a fleeting breath ... 1. Echoes of an ancient prophecy: after my life has come and gone, perhaps someone hearing my voice drifting on the breeze of some future spring will chase after my songs like dandelions. �"Miraji, translation by Michael R. Burch 2. Echoes of an ancient prophecy: after my life has come and gone, perhaps someone hearing my voice drifting through some distant future spring will pluck my songs like dandelions. �"Miraji, translation by Michael R. Burch 3. Echoes of an ancient prophecy: when my life has come and gone, and when I’m dead and done, perhaps someone hearing me sing in a distant spring will echo my songs the whole world over. �"Miraji, translation by Michael R. Burch If I understand things correctly, Miraji wrote the lines above after translating a verse by Sappho in which she said that her poems would be remembered in the future. I suspect both poets and both prophecies were correct! Every Day and in Every Direction by Nida Fazli loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Everywhere and in every direction we see innumerable people: each man a victim of his own loneliness, reticence and silences. From dawn to dusk men carry enormous burdens: all preparing graves for their soon-to-be corpses. Each day a man lives, the same day he dies. Each new day requires the same old patience. In every direction there are roads for him to roam, but in every direction, men victimize men. Every day a man dies many deaths only to resurrect from his ashes. Each new day presents new challenges. Life's destiny is not fixed, but a series of journeys: thus, till his last breath, a man remains restless. Couplets by Nida Fazli loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch It was my fate to entangle and sink myself because I am a boat and my ocean lies within. ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You were impossible to forget once you were gone: hell, I remembered you most when I tried to forget you! ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Don't squander these pearls: such baubles may ornament sleepless nights! ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The world is like a deck of cards on a gambling table: some of us are bound to loose while others cash in. ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch There is a proper protocol for everything in this world: when visiting gardens never force butterflies to vacate their flowers! ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Since I lack the courage to commit suicide, I have elected to bother people with my life a bit longer. ―Nida Fazli, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Changing Seasons by Noshi Gillani loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Each changing season reveals something concealed by her fears: an escape route from this island illuminated by her tears. Dust by Bahadur Shah Zafar or Muztar Khairabadi loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Unable to light anyone's eye or to comfort anyone's heart ... I am nothing but a handful of dust. Piercings by Firaq Gorakhpuri loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch No one ever belonged to anyone else for a lifetime. We cannot own another's soul. The beauty we see and the love we feel are only illusions. All my life I tried to save myself from the piercings of your eyes ... But I failed and the daggers ripped right through me. Salvation Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Anxious and fatigued, I consider the salvation of death ... But if there is no peace in the grave, where can I go to be saved? Child of the Century by Abdellatif Laâbi (a Moroccan poet) loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch I’m a child of this dreary century, a child who never grew up. Doubts that ignited my tongue singed my wings. I learned to walk, then I unlearned progress. I grew weary of oases and camels infatuated with ruins. My head inclined East only to occupy the middle of the road as I awaited the insane caravans. Nostalgia by Abdulla Pashew (a Kurdish poet) loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch How I desire the heavens! Each solitary star lights the way to a tryst. How I desire the sky! Standing alone, remote, the sky is as vast as any ocean. How I desire love's heavenly scent! When each enticing blossom releases its essence. Oblivion by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi (an African poet who writes in Arabic) loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Discard your pen before you start reading; consider the ink, how it encompasses bleeding. Learn from the horizon through eyes' narrowed slits the limitations of vision and hands' treacherous writs. Do not blame me, nor indeed anyone, if you expire before your reading is done. In Medias Res by Shaad Azimabadi loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch When I heard the story of my life recounted, I caught only the middle of the tale. I remain unaware of the beginning or end. Debt Relief by Piyush Mishra loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch We save Sundays for our loved ones ... all other days we slave to repay debts. Reoccurrence by Amrita Bharati (a Hindi poet) loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch It was a woman's heart speaking, that had been speaking for eons ... It was a woman's heart silenced, that had been silenced for centuries ... And between them loomed a mountain that a man or a rat gnawed at, even in times of amity ... gnawing at the screaming voice, at the silent tongue, from the primeval day. Don't Approach Me by Arif Farhad loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Don't approach me here by the river of time where I flop like a fish in a net! Intoxicants by Amrut Ghayal (a Gujarati poet) translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch O, my contrary mind! You're such a fool, afraid to drink the fruit of the vine! But show me anything universe-designed that doesn't intoxicate, like wine. I’m like a commodity being priced in the market-place: every eye ogles me like a buyer’s. �"Majrooh Sultanpuri, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch If you insist, I’ll continue playing my songs, forever piping the flute of my heart. �"Majrooh Sultanpuri, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The moon has risen once again, yet you are not here. My heart is a blazing pyre; what do I do? �"Majrooh Sultanpuri, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Drunk on Love by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Drunk on love, I made her my God. She quickly informed me that God belongs to no man! Exiles by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Often we have heard of Adam's banishment from Eden, but with far greater humiliation, I abandon your garden. To Whom Shall I Complain? by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch To whom shall I complain when I am denied Good Fortune in acceptable measure? Dementedly, I demanded Death, but was denied even that dubious pleasure! Ghazal by Mirza Ghalib loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You should have stayed a little longer; you left all alone, so why not linger? We’ll meet again, you said, some day similar to this one, as if such days can ever recur, not vanish! You left our house as the moon abandons night's skies, as the evening light abandons its earlier surmise. You hated me: a wife abnormally distant, unknown; you left me before your children were grown. Only fools ask why old Ghalib still clings to breath when his fate is to live desiring death. How strange has life become: Our evenings drag out, yet our years keep flashing by! ―original poet unknown, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Life Advice by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch This passive nature will not allow you to survive; If you want to live, raise a storm! O, Colorful Rose! by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You are not troubled with solving enigmas O, beautiful Rose! nor do you have sublime feelings in your heart Though you ornament the assembly, still you flower apart (In life's assembly I am not permitted such comforts) In my garden I am the complete orchestra of longing While your life is devoid of love's passionate warmth To pluck you from the branch is not my custom (I am not blinded by mere appearances) O, colorful rose this hand is not your tormentor (I am no callous flower picker!) I am no intern to analyze you with scientific eyes Like a lover, I see you with nightingales' eyes Despite your innumerable tongues, you have chosen silence What secrets, O Rose, lie concealed in your bosom? Like me you're a leaf from the garden of �'ër Far from the garden I am, far from the garden we both are You are content, but I am a scattered fragrance Pierced by the sword of love in my quest This turmoil within me might be a means of fulfillment This torment, a source of illumination My frailty might be the beginning of strength My envy might mirror the cup of divination My constant vigil is a world-illuminating candle And teaches this steed, the human intellect, to gallop Bright Rose by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You cannot loosen the heart's knot; perhaps you have no heart, no share in the chaos of this garden, where I yearn (for what?) but harvest no roses. Of what use to me is wisdom? Having abandoned the garden, you are at peace, while I remain anxious, disconsolate in my terror. Perhaps Jamshid's empty cup foretold the future, but may wine never satisfy my mouth, till I find you in the mirror. Jamshid's empty cup: Jamshid saw the reflection of future events in a wine cup. Coal to Diamond Allama Iqbal, after Nietzsche loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch My flesh is so vile, I am less than dust while your brilliance out-blazes the mirror's heart. My darkness defiles the chafing-dish before my cremation; a miner's boot tramples my cranium; I'm covered with ashes. Do you know my life's bleak essence? Condensations of smoke, black clouds stillborn from a single spark; while in feature and nature starlike, your every facet's a splendor�" gleam of the King's crown, the scepter's jewel. "Please, friend, be wise," the diamond replied, "assume a gemlike dignity! Carbon must harden, to fill one's bosom with radiance. Burn because you are soft. Banish fear and grief. Be hard as stone, be diamond." Firefly by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch A candle among roses In the evening garden A shooting star A flash of the moon's gown A spark of the sun's hem In syncopated eclipse Emissary of day In night's dark kingdom Unseen at home Lucid in exile Opposite of the moth, The firefly is light The Age of Infancy by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The earth and sky remained unknown to me The expanse of my mother's bosom was my only world Her every movement communicated life's pleasures to me Yet my own voice conveyed only meaningless words During infancy's pain, if someone made me cry The clank of the door chain would comfort me Oh! How I stared at the moon those long, lonely hours, Regarding its silent journey through broken clouds I would ask repeatedly about its mountains and plains Only to be surprised by some prudent lie My eye was devoted to seeing, my lips to speech My heart was inquisitiveness personified Fiction by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch "Why didn't you make me immortal?" Beauty asked God, perplexed. God, vexed, replied: "The world is a fiction fashioned from emptiness. You were born bright, ever-changing: true beauty is transient, estranging." The moon picked up their discord and beamed it on to the morning star who informed dawn's clouds of her dark secret. The dew overheard it all, formed a tear and drenched the shivering rose petals (now survived by the hardier nettles). Destiny by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Isn't it futile to complain about God's will, When you are your own destiny? Excerpts from "The Tulip of Sinai" by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 1 My heart is bright, from burning inwardly. My eyes weep blood, for all the world to see. Am I the fool, or is it only he Who calls all Love mere wild insanity! 3 Love grants the garden soft breezes of May. Love teaches the meadow sunflowers to be gay. Love rockets bright rays even into the deep So that fishes' schools can find their way. 4 Love reckons the price of eagles cheap. Love surrenders pheasants to the falcons’ steep Murderous dives. Our offended hearts weep till suddenly, out of ambush, Love leaps! 5 Love paints the tulip petals’ hue. Love stirs the spirit’s bitter rue. And, should you could cleave this carrion clay, You would behold Love’s bloodshed too. 7 A spent scent in a garden: hopes expire. I know not what I seek, no, nor require. But whether I am satisfied, or starved, Still here I burn: a martyr to desire. 13 How long, my heart, will you be like the moth, Infatuated with a bit of cloth Or winking flame? Just once, my foolish heart, Be fully consumed in yourself, or depart. Excerpts from "Cordoba" by Allama Iqbal loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch ... And yet in this form Hues of eternal life Splendor of man's love Love, life's foundation Death has no claim on love Love, the tide Stemming the torrent Love, the nameless eras Love, Gabriel's breath Love, the Prophet of God Love, the Word of God Love, the radiant rose Love, the transcendent wine Love, the goblet of kings Love, life's music Love, the passion for life Love, the fire of life ... A drop of blood turns Stone to beating hearts The heart's cry is joy Illumination and melody You brighten my heart My song wells up in my breast You draw man's heart Into the presence of God But the passion of love For God is man's alone I ignite man's passion Though his sight is finite His heart's more expansive than the sky So what if God desires, rules? He doesn't earn the pain! I am an Indian infidel Witness my fervor In my heart, prayers On my lips, blessings Love is my flute Love, my song In my every bone "God is God" ... Yet the world is illusion The man of God is reason's horizon The harvest of love The fire of the ingathering Heaven's passion Dilemma by Michael R. Burch While I reject your absence, I find your presence equally intolerable. © 2021 Michael R. Burch |
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Added on September 20, 2020 Last Updated on May 25, 2021 Tags: Urdu, Urdu Love Poems, Urdu Translations, Love, Passion, Desire, Feelings, Words, Tears Author
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