Limits of your love
November 26, 2023
Poet
Alama Iqbal
Pen Name(s)
Iqbal
Translation in Rhyme
In quest, I seek your boundless love’s end,
See my simplicity, what task I contend.
A pledge of immodesty, how bold the vow,
I seek trials to test my patience now.
Grant heavens to the virtuous, they say,
Yet I seek your presence, day by day.
An insignificant heart, yet eager to find,
Words that match, with boastful mind.
Counting last breaths, a guest in this show,
Like a dying lamp whose light is about to go.
In the crowded assembly, secrets laid bare,
Feeling remorseful, seeking punishment fair.
Translation in Prose
I seek the limits of your love,
Behold, what simplicity I seek.
How dare be there a promise of immodesty,
I seek something to test my patience.
The heaven be granted to the righteous,
For I simply seek your encounter.
Insignificant heart, yet playful it is,
I seek to hear the same boastful talk.
Few breaths left, I am a guest of this gathering,
A morning lamp, I seek to be extinguished.
Having disclosed the secrets in a crowded assembly,
Disrespectful I am, I seek due punishment.
Transliteration
tere ishq kī intihā chāhtā hūṇ
merī sādgī dekh kyā chāhtā hūṇ
sitam ho ke ho vada-e-be-hijābī
koī bāt sabr-āzmā chāhtā hūṇ
ye jannat mubārak rahe zāhidoṇ ko
ke maiṇ āp kā sāmnā chāhtā hūṇ
zarā sā tho dil hūñ magar shokh itnā
vohī lan-tarānī sunā chāhtā hūñ
koī dam kā mehmāṇ hūñ ai ahl-e-mehfil
charāgh-e-seher hūṇ bujhā chāhtā hūṇ
bharī bazm meiṇ rāz kī bāt keh dī
baṯā be-adab hūñ sazā chāhtā hūñ
Escape
November 25, 2023
Poet
Sahir Ludhianvi
Pen Name(s)
Sahir
Translation in Rhyme
Haunted by the specter of my bygone days,
Each moment a regret, a weary maze.
Shame lingers over desires unmet,
Regret over hopes that failed to set.
Let my past rest in shadows deep,
A source of naught but shame, I keep.
Hopes birthed dreams, desires did fire,
Yet nameless misery is their entire.
With myriad hopes, I built for one,
Places adorned for someone undone.
Obscure notes of disjointed dreams,
Woven threads in aimless streams.
Speak not of love’s tales to me,
I’ll declare, her love I did not see.
Those dreamy eyes that now forget,
I never fell for their captivating set.
Let me say, I can still thrive,
Love faltered, yet life is alive.
The quest for her, aspiration to attain,
A futile chase, but not in vain.
Those tresses, eyes, and cheeks aglow,
Another’s gaze, elsewhere they’ll show.
Those flowers, meant for her alone,
Can flourish anew for a heart unknown.
Translation in Prose
I am terrified at the thought of my past
I despise the days I have spent
I am ashamed at my unfilled desires
I am regretful of my futile hopes
Let my past remain buried in darkness
My past brings me nothing but disgrace
The result of my hopes and the cause of my desires
Is nothing other than nameless misery
With the aid of many useless hopes
I had decorated palaces for someone
How many obscure notes of disjointed desires
I had woven in my dreams for someone
Don’t recount the tales of my love to me
Let me just say that I never loved her
Those dreamy eyes that have forgotten me
I never did approve of those captivating eyes
Let me just say that I can still live
Love defeated but life has not failed
That aspiration of attaining her, the quest of having her
A useless pursuit, but not a defeated effort
Those tresses, those eyes, those rosy cheeks, that countenance
If I seek, I can find elsewhere
Those flowers that were meant to bloom for her
Can bloom for someone else as well
Transliteration
apne māzī ke tasavvur se hirāsāṇ huṇ maiṇ
apne guzre hue ayyām se nafrat hai mujhe
apnī be-kār tamannāoṇ pe sharmindā hūṇ
apnī be-sūd umīdoṇ pe nadāmat hai mujhe
mere māzī ko andhere meṇ dabā rahne do
merā māzī merī zillat ke sivā kuch bhī nahīṇ
merī ummīdoṇ kā hāsil merī kāvish kā silā
ek be-nām aziyyat ke sivā kuch bhī nahīṇ
kitnī be-kār umīdoṇ kā sahārā le kar
maiṇ ne aivān sajāe the kisī kī khātir
kitnī be-rabt tamannāoṇ ke mubham khāke
apne khwāboṇ meṇ basāe the kisī kī khātir
mujh se ab merī mohabbat ke fasāne na kaho
mujh ko kehne do ke maiṇ ne unheṇ chāhā hī nahīṇ
aur vo mast nigāheṇ jo mujhe bhūl gaīṇ
maiṇ ne un mast nigāhoṇ ko sarāhā hī nahīṇ
mujh ko kehne do ke maiṇ aaj bhī jī saktā hūṇ
ishq nākām sahī zindagī nākām nahīṇ
un ko apnāne kī khwāhish unheṇ pāne kī talab
shauq be-kār sahī sai-e-gham-e-anjām nahīṇ
vohī gesū vohī nazreṇ vohī āriz vohī jism
maiṇ jo chāhūṇ tho mujhe aur bhī mil sakte haiṇ
vo kaṇval jin ko kabhī un ke liye khilnā thā
un kī nazroṇ se bahut dūr bhī khil sakte haiṇ
Disciplines of love
November 12, 2023
Poet
Ahmad Faraz
Pen Name(s)
Faraz
Translation in Rhyme
In lament you dwell, heart heavy with strife,
Faraz, love’s disciplines elude your grasp, a rife.
What proximity, plans for parting already in sight,
What cruel twist in fate, what cosmic slight.
God or idol, our devotion won’t sway,
A lifetime of worship, come what may.
Awaiting encounters, reasons are diverse,
Gratitude, complaint, emotions immerse.
Compelled by our heart, we are in tether,
Others raise havoc on issues petty, nether.
Tongue-tied, I am, when meeting her grace,
Post-encounter explanations, in solitude I trace.
In hatred’s storm, they persist, relentless and cold,
Yet etiquettes of love, we struggle to uphold.
Faraz, let tears fall with each season’s rhyme,
Seek lost love’s echo, in the heart’s sweet time.
Translation in Prose
Alas, you go on lamenting the condition of your heart,
Faraz you fail to comprehend the disciplines of love.1
What proximity is this that you are here in front of me,
And already we have to consider plans for our separation.
Whether it be God or be it an idol, whomsoever we seek,
We will worship for a lifetime, without question.2
Everyone has their own reason for awaiting the encounter,
Some to express gratitude, some to register complaint.
We here are compelled by our own heart and yet others,
Continue to raise havoc on petty insignificant issues.
Tongue-tied I am when I finally meet her,
Afterwards I offer myself hundreds of explanations.
How are these people able to carry on in their hatred,
While we remain busy maintaining the etiquettes of love.
Faraz, do cry a little in the changing seasons sometimes,
Do search for lost love every now and then.
Transliteration
ye kya ke sab se bayaṇ dil kī hālateṇ karnī
Faraz tujh ko na āyīṇ mohabbateṇ karnī
ye qurb kya hai ki tū sāmne hai aur hameṇ
shumār abhī se judaī ki sā’ateṇ karnī
koī Khudā ho ke patthar jise bhī hum chāheṇ
tamām umr usī kī ibādateṇ karnī
sab apne apne qarīne se muntazir us ke
kisī ko shukr kisī ko shikāyateṇ karnī
hum apne dil se hī majbūr aur logoṇ ko
zarā sī bāt pe barpā qayāmateṇ karnī
mileṇ jab un se tho mubham sī guftugū karnā
phir apne āp se sau sau wazāhateṇ karnī
ye log kaise magar dushmanī nibhāthe haiṇ
hameṇ tho rās nā āiṇ mohabbateṇ karnī
kabhī Faraz nae mausamoṇ meiṇ ro denā
kabhī talāsh purānī rifaqateṇ karnī
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