Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Aah, ki meri jaan ko qaraar nahin hai (Ghalib, translated by Mustansir Dalvi)


Aah, ki meri jaan ko qaraar nahin hai

a Ghazal by
Mirza Ghalib

Aah, ki meri jaan ko qaraar nahin hai
Taaqat-e-bedaad-e-intezaar nahin hai

Dete hai jannat hayaat-e-dahr ke badle
Nashaa ba-andaazaa-e-khumaar nahin hai

Giryaa nikaale hai teri bazm se mujhko
Hai! Ki rone pe ikhtiyaar nahin hai

Hum se abas hai ghumaan-e-ranjish-e-khaatir
Khaak mein usshaak ki ghubaar nahin hai

Dil se uthaa lutf-e-jalwaa-haa-e-ma’aani
Ghair-e-gul aainaa-e-bahaar nahin hai

Qatl ka mere kiya hai ahd to baare
Vaae agar ahd ustuvaar nahin hai

Tune qasam mai-kashi ki khaaee hai Ghalib
Teri qasam ka kuch aitbaar nahin hai


.
The promise of paradise

a Ghazal translated by
Mustansir Dalvi

O, my soul that finds
no peace; nor patience,
for I am indifferent
to the tyranny of waiting.

I am promised paradise
in return for earthly life, and yet
this pledge is not equal
to the intoxication assured

Weeping, I am ejected
from your assembly
O, that I have no control
on my tears

How futile are these
estimations of my own grief
No clouds of love blow
on this parched earth

Every sense of passion
has been lifted from my heart
What is the mirror of spring
if not the flower itself?

You have found, at last
a time for my slaying
Woe, that you are 
not firm on that at all

Ghalib, you may
have sworn to get drunk
But no one really believes
you actually will

 .

Translation and Transliteration © Mustansir Dalvi, 2016, All rights reserved.