The Hidden Garden, Gopi Narang [cheapest way to read ebooks txt] 📗

sheikhs and the reckless youth?

When you look around with your beautiful dark eyes,

they all tumble over, badly drunk, with one look.

mond rakhna chashm ka hasti mein aa’iin-e diid hai

kuchh nahien aata nazar jab aankh khole hai habaab

Keeping the eyes closed in this life

is a good way of seeing the enigmatic world.

Nothing is visible when the bubble

opens its eyes; it simply bursts!

tu ho aur duniya ho saaqi main huun masti ho mudaam

par bat-e sehba nikaale ur chale rang sharaab

In your and wine-pourer’s company

lies my whole world

and my everlasting intoxication.

Let the duck open its wings

and let the colour of wine fly everywhere.

mat dhalak mizhgaan se ab to ae sirishk-e aabdaar

muft mein jaati rahe gi teri moti ki si aab

Don’t fall down from my eyelashes,

O my sparkling tear.

You will lose your pearl-like

lustrous shine for zilch.

kuchh nahien bahr-e jahaan ki mauj par mat bhuul Mir

duur se dariya nazar aata hai lekin hai saraab

It is nothing, Mir.

Don’t get deceived

by the high waves of the world.

What you see as a river

from the distance

is nothing but a mirage.15

kuchh mauj-e hava pechaan ae Mir nazar aaii

shaayad k bahaar aaii zanjiir nazar aaii

The wave of breeze

appeared to me, Mir,

swaying and dancing.

Probably I saw the spring.

Or was it a chain?

dilli ke n the kuuche auraaq-e musavvar the

jo shakl nazar aaii tasviir nazar aaii

The lanes of Dilli were not lanes.

They were more like pages from an album.

Every face that you saw was like

a magnificent heart-stopping image.

maghruur bahut the ham aansu ki saraayit par

so sub-h ke hone ko taasiir nazar aaii

I was very proud

about the effect that my tears could create.

When morning came

there was proof for everyone to see.

gul baar kare hai ga asbaab-e safar shaayad

ghunche ki tarah bulbul dilgiir nazar aaii

The rose is probably packing things for travel.

The bud and the nightingale saw it and

they both were forlorn and heartbroken.

us ki to dil-aazaari be-hiich hi thi yaaro

kuchh ham ko hamaari bhi taqsiir nazar aaii

Her effort to make me suffer, dear friends,

was futile, without any real damage.

But there was some deficiency on my part too.16

kya kahuun tum se main k kya hai i’shq

jaan ka rog hai bala hai i’shq

What can I tell you

how to define passionate love?

It is a soul’s affliction;

it is a calamity.

i’shq hi i’shq hai jahaan dekho

saare aa’lam mein bhar raha hai i’shq

There is intense love

wherever you look.

The whole world

is filled with fervent love.

i’shq hai tarz o taur i’shq ke ta-iin

kahien banda kahien khuda hai i’shq

Love is its own praise.

Somewhere ordinary, human,

in other places God and Love

are no different

i’shq maa’shuuq i’shq aa’shiq hai

yaa’ni apna hi mubtala hai i’shq

Love is beloved.

It is the lover too.

Love is itself and

the one it engages.

dilkash aisa kahaan hai dushman-e jaan

mudd’aii hai p mudd’aa hai i’shq

It is tempting and irresistible

to the extent of being an enemy of life.

Love is the subject as well as the very object

of one’s being.

Mir ji zard hote jaate ho

kya kahien tum ne bhi kiya hai i’shq

Dear Mir, you are getting paler

by each passing day.

Have you also fallen in love?17

lazzat se nahien khaali jaanon ka khapa jaana

kab khizr o masiiha ne marne ka maza jaana

It is not without pleasure

that so many lives are lost.

Did Khizr or Jesus enjoy

the ecstasy of dying?

y bhi hai ada koi khurshiid namat pyaare

munh sub-h dikha jaana phir shaam chhupa jaana

What style is this, my dear, that just like the sun,

you show your face in the morning and

then go into hiding when evening comes?

kab bandagi meri si banda kare ga koi

jaane hai khuda us ko main tujh ko khuda jaana

No one can practice devotion like me.

If there is one such, God knows him.

But for me you are my God.

tha naaz bahut ham ko daanist par apni bhi

aakhir vo bura nikla ham jis ko bhala jaana

I was very vain

about my wisdom and understanding.

But someone I trusted to be good

turned out to be bad.

dhab dekhne ka iidhar aisa hi tumhaara tha

jaate to ho par ham se tuk aankh mila jaana

How to explain

the way you looked at me?

If you are leaving,

just look me in the eye once.

ae shor-e qayaamat ham sote hi n rah jaavein

is raah se nikle to ham ko bhi jaga jaana

O tumult of the doomsday,

don’t leave me behind while I’m sleeping.

When you pass this way,

make sure that you wake me up.

jaati hai guzar ji par us waqt qayaamat si

yaad aave hai jab tera yak-baargi aa jaana

My heart suffers

doomsday-like affliction

when I remember

your coming over to see me.

barson se mere us ki rahti hai yahi sohbat

tegh us ko uthaana to sar mujh ko jhuka jaana

It has been the state of affairs

for years now.

She picks up a sword

and I lower my head.

kab Mir basar aaye tum vaise farebi se

dil ko to laga baithe lekin n laga jaana

How can you put up, Mir,

with that kind of artful trickster?

You have fallen in love,

but you never knew

what this affliction was.18

Mir dariya hai sune she’r zabaani us ki

allah allah re tabiyaa’t ki ravaani us ki

Mir resembles a river.

We have heard him recite.

By the grace of God,

his temperament

is a gush of creativity.

miinh to bauchhaar ka dekha hai baraste tum ne

isi andaaz se thi ashk fashaani us ki

You may have seen

the powerful rain shower.

The way he cried uncontrollably

was no different.

baat ki tarz ko dekho to koi jaadu tha

par mili khaak mein kya sehr bayaani us ki

The style of his conversation

was really enchanting.

But his magical capabilities

dissolved into dust.

sar-guzasht apni kis andoh se shab kehta tha

so gaye tum n suni aah kahaani us ki

Last evening,

he was telling his story

with great grief.

But you fell asleep.

Alas, you didn’t hear his tale

of heart-rending woe.

marsiye dil ke kaii kah ke diye logon ko

shahr dilli mein hai sab paas nishaani us ki

He composed heartfelt elegies

and gave them to his friends.

In the city of Dilli everyone

has them as his imprint.

aable ki si tarah thes lagi phuut bahe

dard-mandi mein gaii saari javaani us ki

He was hit like a blister

and the wound leaked.

He spent all his life

in distress and suffering.

ab gaye us ke juz afsos nahien kuchh haasil

haif sad haif k kuchh qadr n jaani us ki

He is gone and

there is nothing to be gained

by grieving about it.

Pity, one hundred pities,

no one really valued him.19

patta patta buuta