Translation:

Each star a rung,

night comes down the spiral

staircase of the evening.

The breeze passes by so very close

as if someone just happened to speak of love.

In the courtyard,

the trees are absorbed refugees

embroidering maps of return on the sky.

On the roof,

the moon - lovingly, generously -

is turning the stars

into a dust of sheen.

From every corner, dark-green shadows,

in ripples, come towards me.

At any moment they may break over me,

like the waves of pain each time I remember

this separation from my lover.

This thought keeps consoling me:

though tyrants may command that lamps be smashed

in rooms where lovers are destined to meet,

they cannot snuff out the moon, so today,

nor tomorrow, no tyranny will succeed,

no poison of torture make me bitter,

if just one evening in prison

can be so strangely sweet,

if just one moment anywhere on this earth.

Translation by: Agha Shahid Ali

On 18:09 | 0 comments

This path of memory,

On which you have walked for so long,

Will end, if your were to proceed a few steps more,

Where it diverts to oblivion’s desolation

And from there onwards neither you nor I exist.

My eyes, still on you, wait that any instant,

You may return, pass on, or just look back.

Yet, I am aware,

That it is merely an illusion:

When I believe that if my eyes

ever embrace you somewhere,

A new path shall erupt there;

And a similar encounter shall resume;

Under the fall of your locks,

The journey of my arms.

Then, the other situation is just a false,

Because my heart knows:

There is no diversion, desolation or hiding,

Which may conceal my beloved from me.

So, while this path erupts under your feet,

Let it be so;

And if you never even look back,

It doesn’t matter.

Translated by: Sain Sucha

On 17:57 | 0 comments

Chand Roz Or meri Jaan Faqat chand hi Roz:

Chand roz aur meri jaan faqat chand hi roz
zulm ki chanoon main dam lene par majbur hain ham
ik zara aur sitam sah len tarap len ro len
apne ajdad ki miras hai mazur hain ham
jism par qaid hai jazbat pe zanjire hai
fikr mahbus hai guftar pe taziren hain
aur apni himmat hai k ham phir bhi jiye jate hain
zindagi kya kisi muflis k qaba hai
jis main har ghari dard k paivand lage jate hain
lekin ab zulm k miyad k din thore hain
ik zara sabr k fariyad k din thore hain
arsa-e-dahar ki jhulsi hui wirani main
ham ko rahna hai par yun hi to nahin rahna hai
ajnabi hathon ka benam garan-bar sitam
aj sahna hai hamesha to nahin sahna hai
ye teri husn se lipti hui alaam ki gard
apni do roza jawani ki shikaston ka shumar
chandani raton ka bekar dahakta hua dard
dil k besud tarap jism ki mayus pukar
chand roz aur meri jan faqat chand hi roz

Translation:

Only a few days, dear one, a few days more.

Only a few days, dear one, a few days more.

Under oppression’s shadows condemned to breathe,

Still for a time we must bear them, and tears, and

endure

What our forefathers, not our own faults, bequeath:

Fettered limbs, each impulse held on a chain,

Minds in bondage, our words all watched and set down

Courage still nerves us, or how should we still exist,

Now with existence only a beggar’s gown,

Tattered, and patched every hour with new rags of p

ain?

Yes, but to tyranny not many hours are left now;

Patience a little, few hours of lamenting remain.

In this parched air of an age that desert sands choke

We must stay now—not forever and ever stay!

Under this load beyond words of a foreign yoke

We must submit for a while—not for ever submit!

Dust of affliction that clings to your beauty today,

Crosses unnumbered that mar our few mornings of youth,

Torment of silver nights, a pain with no cure,

Heartache unanswered, the body’s long cry of despair

Only a few days, dear one, a few days more.

Translated by:Victor Kiernan

On 17:45 | 0 comments