Ghalib – Few Ghazals in English

Posted by Syed Nayyar Uddin on November 16, 2010 in Ghazals of Ghalib in English |
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By My Late Father Syed Shahab Uddin Ahmad, former lecturer of Chemistry,  Aligarh  Muslim University during 1941-1951 & warden Sir Syed Hall.

(Kal  Kay Leay Kar Aaj Naa  Khissat Sharab Mayn)

O! cup bearer store not thy wine for the morrow,

And thus belittle the boundless bounty

Of one, Who has promised to serve on Reckoning Day,

From the Fountain Divine, to Heav’n bound souls.

Abased today why we must be, for till

The Yestermorn the haughty angles were

Despised for disobedience to man?

O! why alone the mystic songs

Our senses stun,

Lo! when the self-same notes come out

From all the reeds and wires and drums?

Age rides a galloping steed;

Unbridled and saddle-less it is,

Then who can say when it will stop?

So little of self I know, as much

Aware about others I am.

When all creations manifest the Omnipotent

I wonder, why should nurture hope

To witness Him on Judgment Day?

Probabilities on realities thrive

Like drops and waves and bubbles

Which, on the existence of the sea depend.

Her coyness is a ruse;

Thus exposed more than veiled

She is to her dear one.

Hasn’t done with cosmetics yet,

The mirror is insight always under the veil.

What we think is manifest, is yet unknown,

He is still in dreams, who is awake in dreams.

Ghalib! the scent of Friend

Comes from the Friend’s friend;

And I am engrossed in the Truth

In my obedience to His disciples commands.

___________________________

(Sab Kahan Kutch Lala-o-Gul Mayn Numayan Ho Gian)

Many a form under a mould is hid,

Only a few as a rose or tulip shine.

Even to me were known the revelries,

But with the youth have fled all these,

And now their very thought is growing dim

Like figures in the limbo of oblivion.

The corpse bearer of the universe at day,

Behind the curtains were, but lo!

At night what stirred their hearts

That they, their veils did throw.

Tho’ Jacob asked not for his son in the prison,

His eyes like holes in the walls grew lusterless.

The Egyptian queen might be displeased

With all her rivals, but was

Happy with the ladies of Egypt

As, they were lost in admiring her proud choice,

The moon of Cana’n.

Let streams of blood ooze out of my eyes

On sep’ration eve, and I will think

That candles two are lit to shed their light.

My vengeance I will take on these beauties

In Heav’n, if God turns them there to houries.

Peaceful slumber, sweet dreams and restful nights

For him are meant,

On whose shoulders thy tresses have

Scattered been.

As I wandered into the grove,

As if, a school’s teaching session began;

The nightingales on hearing my laments

Began reciting my ghazals.

O! God those gazes are piercing my heart,

Which to my misfortune

Have turned to eye lashes.

I restrict my laments and they

My heart did fill and served

To mend the tear of my neck-cloth.

I have exhausted all my well wishes

To bless the gate keeper,

Now how shall I respond

To her welcoming abuses if

At all I go to her.

The Wine’s necter for him who holds the cup,

The lines of his hands are all, as if turned

Into veins thro’ which the life blood runs.

I believe in Unity;

My religion is non observance of rituals;

When sects dissolved, arose,

Bases of pure faith.

If man becomes accustomed to grief,

They lose their pangs,

And I, in constant hardships comfort feel.

If Ghalib thus will mourn, then you beware

Desolation will spread on every place.

___________________________

(Koi Umeed Bar Nahi Aati )

All hopes elude and prospects fail,

When death must come why then these sleepless nights.

There was a time when heart I smiled away,

Now naught there is to win my smile.

I know that piety goodness breeds,

But O! the heart reluctant feels.

Something there is that holds my tongue,

Else what cannot the words convey.

Why should I not wail in anguish?

My love searches for me when my wailing stops.

The stain on my heart cannot be seen,

Nor the odor coming out of it can be smelled.

So lost in the maze of thoughts I dwell,

Not knowing ought of my own self.

I long for death to come, but woe?

It only seems to flit away.

How will you Ghalib Ka’ba face,

Ashamed of self you do not seem.

___________________________

(Naqsh Faryadi Hay Kiss Key Shokh-e-Tehreer Ka)

Whose daring drawings

The pictures are complaining of;

Each one of them draped

In paper raiment is?

Ask not about the arduous, die hard

Struggling, lonely life;

The restlessness from dusk to dawn

Is cutting like a sweet water – course in the rocks.

Behold the fervent fond emotions bursting forth!

Indeed the cutting edge of sword is found

Away from sword’s heart!!

Awareness may lay its snares

To listen to it, all along the way,

Yet, the meaning of my writings

Will ev ‘r elusive remain.

Even in confinement O! Ghalib

Restless I am, as if, tortured

By fire under the feet;

But the ring of my fetter is witness to

The heat of blazing fire.

___________________________

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