I have been posting some favorite poems or ones that match the theme of the post (it’s the same outcome either way). While there is endless supply of gorgeous poems in the English language, just as I shared a Pablo Neruda poem, originally in Spanish, so would I want to share my love for Urdu poetry. The words, the style, the tone that poems in Urdu carry is hard to define, very difficult to translate, but easy to fall in love with.
Mirza Ghalib was one of the most famous Urdu poets of the 20th century. I have tried, and generally failed, to find good translations of his work in English. My own attempts at translating feel less than useful, though I may still take another shot at it in the near future. In the meantime, here is one of his more known works. If you don’t understand hindi/urdu, this will read a bit choppy. It’s the mystic essence that is worth going after.
1.
dard minnat-kash-e davaa nah hu))aa
mai;N nah achchhaa hu))aa buraa nah hu))aa
2.
jam((a karte ho kyuu;N raqiibo;N ko
ik tamaashaa hu))aa gilaa nah hu))aa
3.
ham kahaa;N qismat aazmaane jaa))e;N
tuu hii jab ;xanjar-aazmaa nah hu))aa
4.
kitne shiirii;N hai;N tere lab kih raqiib
gaaliyaa;N khaa ke be-mazaa nah hu))aa
5.
hai ;xabar garm un ke aane kii
aaj hii ghar me;N boriyaa nah hu))aa
6.
kyaa vuh namruud kii ;xudaa))ii thii
bandagii me;N miraa bhalaa nah hu))aa
7.
jaan dii dii hu))ii usii kii thii
;haq to yuu;N hai kih ;haq adaa nah hu))aa
8.
zakhm gar dab gayaa lahuu nah thamaa
kaam gar ruk gayaa ravaa nah hu))aa
9.
rahzanii hai kih dil-sitaanii hai
le ke dil dil-sitaa;N ravaanah hu))aa
10.
kuchh to pa;Rhye kih log kahte hai;N
aaj ;Gaalib ;Gazal-saraa nah hu))aa
____
Translation
1.
Agony never become obliged to the remedies,
Neither I became cured and nor that bad.
2.
Why you are gathering the crowd of rivals,
It is a sort of carnival and not the complaint.
3.
Where should I go to test my fate,
If you yourself not became a skilled player of dagger.
4.
How sweet your lips are, that the rivals,
Never became obloquy by the harsh language.
5.
It is the hot news that she will be coming,
And it is today that bed is missing from the house.
6.
What a world that NAMROOD has created,
Even in the devotion, my well-being is not happened.
( A tyrannical king who declared himself as GOD.)
7.
I sacrificed my life for her, that was provided by her only,
But truth is, that the rights are not properly paid.
8.
Even if the wound is healed, blood flow is not stopped,
If the work is paused, it set out.
9.
It is the robbery or the process of heart-theft,
After taking the heart, heart-thief moved on.
10.
Say something, every body is asking,
That today "Ghalib" has not recited a ghazal.
In Urdu poetry, it is customary for the poet to put his own name in the final or second to last couplet. I presume this was for trademarking, but done well it usually fits into the poem nicely.
Photo: Shelves in a bookstore I visited in Connaught Place, New Delhi, India. If I could afford the luggage fees, and had time to read them, I wanted to buy a copy of every books on the shelves!