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