Urdu Translations

You will never comprehend me: 
I pour out my feelings; you only read the words! 
―original poet unknown, translation by Michael R. Burch



Tears are colorless―thank God! ―
otherwise my pillow might betray my heart.
―original poet unknown, translation by Michael R. Burch



Being
by Momin Khan Momin
loose translation 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. 



It's Only My Heart! 
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation 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? 



Last Night 
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your memory stole into my heart...
as spring sweeps uninvited through barren gardens, 
as morning breezes revive dormant deserts, 
as a patient suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason.



Intimacy
by Rahat Indori Sahab
loose translation 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! 



Strange Currents
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

O Khusrow, the river of love
creates strange currents―
the one who would surface invariably drowns, 
while the one who submerges, survives. 



Inquiry
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The miracle of your absence 
is that I found myself endlessly searching for you. 



Near Sainthood
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch

On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib, 
your words might have struck us as deeply profound
and we might have pronounced you a saint...
Yes, if only we hadn't found
you drunk
as a skunk! 



My Apologies, Sona
by Gulzar
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My apologies, Sona, 
if traversing my verse's terrain
in these torrential rains
inconvenienced you.

The monsoons are unseasonal here.

My poems' pitfalls are sometimes sodden.
Water often overflows these ditches.
If you stumble and fall here, you run the risk
of spraining an ankle.

My apologies, however, 
if you were inconvenienced
because my dismal verse lacks light, 
or because my threshold's stones
interfere as you pass.

I have often cracked toenails against them! 

As for the streetlamp at the intersection, 
it remains unlit... endlessly indecisive. 

If you were inconvenienced, 
you have my heartfelt apologies.



Becoming One
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation 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! 



What Happened to Them? 
by Nasir Kazmi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Those who went ashore, what happened to them? 
Those who sailed away, what happened to them? 

Those who were coming at dawn, but dawn never arrived...
Those caravans en route, what happened to them? 

Those I awaited each night on dark, moonless paths, 
Who were meant to light their beacons, what happened to them? 

Who are all these strange people surrounding me now? 
All my missing friends and allies, what happened to them? 

Those who built these burning buildings, what happened to them? 
Those who were meant to uplift us, what happened to them? 

NOTE: This poignant, very moving poem was written about the 1947 partition of India into two nations: India and Pakistan. 



The Eager Traveler
by Ahmed Faraz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Even in the torture chamber, I was the lucky one; 
when each lottery was over, unaccountably I had won.

And even the mightiest rivers found accessible refuge in me; 
though I was called an arid desert, I turned out to be the sea.

And how sweetly I remember you―oh, my wild, delectable love!―
as the purest white blossoms bloom, on talented branches above. 

And while I'm half-convinced that folks adore me in this town, 
still, all the hands I kissed held knives and tried to shake me down. 

You lost the battle, my coward friend, my craven enemy, 
when, to victimize my lonely soul, you sent a despoiling army.

Lost in the wastelands of vast love, I was an eager traveler, 
like a breeze in search of your fragrance, a vagabond explorer.



Memory
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as performed by Iqbal Bano
loose translation 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. 



Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation 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: 
that this weakness has not 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.



Destiny
by Allama Iqbāl
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Isn't it futile to complain about God's will, 
When you are your own destiny? 



Withered Roses
by Allama Iqbāl
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

What words of mine can describe you, 
desire of the nightingale's heart? 
The morning breeze was your nativity, 
the afternoon garden, a tray of perfumes.

My tears welled up like dew, 
till in my abandoned heart your rune grew, 
this dream-emblem of love: 
this spray of withered roses.



The Condition of My Heart
by Munir Niazi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It is not necessary for anyone else to get excited: 
The condition of my heart is not the condition of hers.
But were we to receive any sort of good news, Munir, 
How spectacular compared to earth's mundane sunsets!



Mystery
by Munir Niazi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

She was a mystery: 
Her lips were parched...
but her eyes were two unfathomable oceans.



Certainty
Mir Taqi Mir
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know now that I know nothing, 
and it only took me a lifetime to learn! 

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.

Wasted
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

You have noticed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips... 
In whose imagination I have lost everything.



The Mistake
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation 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! 

***

Countless
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I recounted the world's countless griefs
by recounting your image countless times.



Entangled
by Nida Fazli 
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It was my fate to get wrapped up in myself: 
for I am the boat and my ocean lies within. 



The Infidel
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Ten thousand desires: each worth dying for...
So many fulfilled, 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. 



Vanity
by Parveen Shakir
loose translation 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 that my aging face is no orchid...
but how I wish that I could believe whatever he says, however momentarily! 



Picnic
by Parveen Shakir
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My friends laugh elsewhere on the beach; 
but here I sit here isolated, counting the waves, 
writing and rewriting your name in the sand...



Confession
by Parveen Shakir
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Your image overwhelmed my vision.
Nights passed as I considered your visage.
Absorbed in my obsession with you, there came the moment 
when I quietly placed my lips on your picture. 



Bleedings
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Love requires patience but lust is relentless; 
what colors must my heart leak, before it bleeds to death? 



Speak! 
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation 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.



Tonight 
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight! Days smoldering 
with pain in the end produce only listless ashes...
and who the hell knows what the future may bring? 
Last night's long lost, tomorrow's horizon's a wavering mirage. 
And how can we know if we'll see another dawn? 
Life is nothing, unless together we make it ring! 
Tonight we are love gods! Sing! 

Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight! 
Don't harp constantly on human suffering! 
Stop complaining; let Fate conduct her song! 
Give no thought to the future, seize now, this precious thing! 
Shed no more tears for temperate seasons departed! 
All sighs of the brokenhearted soon weakly dissipate... stop dithering! 
Oh, do not strike the same flat chord again! Sing! 



Come
by Ahmed Faraz
loose translation 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 Ahmed Faraz
loose translation 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



Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation 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 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 everything 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 by Michael R. Burch

Let me get drunk in the mosque, 
Or show me the place where God abstains! 



Changing Seasons
by Noshi Gillani
loose translation by Michael R. Burch 

Each changing season
reveals something 
concealed by her fears: 
an escape route from this island 
illuminated by her tears. 



The Mad Moon
by Rahat Indori 
loose translation by Michael R. Burch 

Stars are always showing off, 
but the mad moon sojourns in darkness.



Dust in the Wind
by Rahat Indori 
loose translation by Michael R. Burch 

This is how I introduce myself to questioners: 
Pick up a handful of dust, then blow...



Dust
by Bahadur Shah Zafar or Muztar Khairabadi 
loose translation 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 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 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 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 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 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.



Step Carefully! 
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Step carefully Ghalib―this world is merciless! 
Here people will "adore" you to win your respect... or your downfall.



No Explanation! (I) 
by Ahmed Faraz
loose translation 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 Ahmed Faraz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Please don't ask me how it happened! 
She didn't bind me, nor did I free myself. 



Alone
by Ahmed Faraz
loose translation 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 Ahmed Faraz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Faraz, if it were easy to be apart, 
would Angels have to separate body from soul? 



Time
by Ahmed Faraz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

What if my face has more wrinkles than yours? 
I am merely well-worn by Time! 



In Medias Res
by Shaad Azimabadi
loose translation 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 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 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. 



Life Advice
by Allama Iqbāl
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This passive nature will not allow you to survive; 
If you want to live, raise a storm! 



Don't Approach Me
by Arif Farhad
loose translation 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.



Shared Blessings
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Drunk on love, I made her my God.
She soon informed me that God does not belong to any one man! 



Exiles
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Often we have heard of Adam's banishment from Eden, 
but with far greater humiliation, I depart your paradise.



To Whom Shall I Complain? 
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

To whom shall I complain when I am denied Good Fortune in acceptable measure? 
Thus I demanded Death, but was denied even that dubious pleasure! 



Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation 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, translation by Michael R. Burch



Bright Rose
by Allama Iqbāl
loose translation 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 Iqbāl, after Nietzsche
loose translation 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 Iqbāl
loose translation 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 Iqbāl
loose translation 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 Iqbāl
loose translation 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) .



Do Not Ask
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz 
loose translation 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. 



Excerpts from "The Tulip of Sinai" 
by Allama Iqbāl
loose translation 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 Iqbāl
loose translation 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