Five
Ghazals of Mirza Ghalib
Translated from Urdu by Sunil Uniyal, IN
(1)
Like Mary's son may someone be
Of all my pain may he cure me
You speak - your tongue would be slit
She talks - a listener you should be
What I'm uttering in madness
O God, I wish none understands me
Stop him from doing a wrong thing,
Forgive, if a mistake commits he
The Khizr couldn't guide Sikandar,
Who's there to point the way to me ?
Ghalib, when all our hope is gone,
Complaining still why are we ?
(2)
My sigh will need a lifetime indeed to have its effect
Who'll live long to be conquered by the tassels of your
hair?
Each wave lunges like a crocodile with a hundred jaws;
Each drop bears many risks before turning into a pearl
Love needs to be patient, but the desire is impatient;
What would be my heart's colour when it runs dry of
blood?
I have faith that to me you'll not be indifferent;
But by the time you are aware, I'd merge into dust
This life doesn't know whether it is there next moment;
The warmth of worldly gathering is a dance of bonfire
Ghalib, the woes of life have their cure only in death;
The candle burns out all its hues till the break of dawn
(3)
The wind may bear the wings as light as dust
My bird's too weak to soar, I have this trust
Who's here who comes like a heavenly beauty?
A bed of tulips is now where the road was dusty
The mere thought of lilies has left some drunk
Else within these tavern walls all is bunk
Ashamed I'm at the havoc my love has wrought
Except the wish to reconstruct, all is nought
Now, Ghalib, my verse remains an idle pastime
To no avail the skill of setting words to rhyme
(4)
A thousand desires I had, each enough to take my breath
Many longings were fulfilled, yet these were not enough
Adam was driven from Paradise - I've long heard that
tale;
A disgrace far more worse has been my exit from your
lane
I'll help if you want a letter to be written to her
For, since morn, I have been roaming with a pen on my
ear
When I expect that someone will show sympathy for my
plight,
He turns out to be more wounded by the blade of
misfortune
O preacher, for God's sake, don't lift the curtain of
Kaaba,
Or else the same unfaithful idol may appear there, too
Where's the door of tavern, Ghalib? What has the priest
to do with it?
This much I know that yesterday, as I came out he
entered it!
(5)
Where are those meetings and those partings now?
Where are those days and nights, months and years now?
Who has time to fall in love nowadays
Where's delight in gazing at the Beauty now?
That heart is gone, that mind is no more, too
Where is imagination's revelry now?
The tears of blood are indeed hard to weep,
Where's the strength in heart and liver now?
Love's gambling house is out of reach,
Where are the pennies in my pocket now ?
I'm troubled by the concerns of the world,
Where do I fit into this pell-mell now ?
All powers, Ghalib, I have lost indeed
Where's harmony in my elements now ?
