mai tenu fir milangi-I will meet you yet again

Mein tainu pher milan gi (I will meet you yet again)

I will meet you yet again
How and where? I know not.
Perhaps I will become a
figment of your imagination
and maybe, spreading myself
in a mysterious line
on your canvas,
I will keep gazing at you.

Perhaps I will become a ray
of sunshine, to be
embraced by your colours.
I will paint myself on your canvas
I know not how and where –
but I will meet you for sure.

Maybe I will turn into a spring,
and rub the foaming
drops of water on your body,
and rest my coolness on
your burning chest.
I know nothing else
but that this life
will walk along with me.

When the body perishes,
all perishes;
but the threads of memory
are woven with enduring specks.
I will pick these particles,
weave the threads,
and I will meet you yet again.

 

english translation of Amrita Pritam’s mai tenu phir milangi

MUJH SE PAHLI SI MUHABBAT MERE MAHBUB NA MANG

 

Mujh se pahli si muhabbat mere mahbub na maang

maine samjhaa thaa ke tuu hai to daraKhshaaN hai hayaat
teraa Gham hai to Gham-e-dah’r kaa jhagRaa kyaa hai
terii suurat se hai aalam meN bahaaroN ko sabaat
terii aaNkhoN ke sivaa duniyaa meN rakhaa kyaa hai
tuu jo mil jaaye to taqdiir niguuN ho jaaye
yuuN na thaa maiN ne faqat chaahaa thaa yuuN ho jaaye
aur bhii dukh haiN zamaane meN muhabbat ke sivaa
raahateN aur bhii haiN vasl kii raahat ke sivaa

mujh se pahlii sii muhabbat merii mahbuub na maaNg

anginat sadiyoN ke taariik bahimaanaa talism
resham-o-atlas-o-kam-Khvaab meN bunvaaye hu’e
jaa-ba-jaa bikte hu’e kuuchaa-o-baazaar meN jism
Khaak meN lithaRe hu’e Khuun meN nahlaaye hu’e
lauT jaatii hai udhar ko bhii nazar kyaa kiijiye
ab bhii dil-kash hai teraa husn magar kyaa kiijiye
aur bhii dukh haiN zamaane meN muhabbat ke sivaa
raahateN aur bhii haiN vasl kii raahat ke sivaa

mujh se pahlii sii muhabbat merii mahbuub na maaNg

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

English Translation by MAR Habib from An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry

Do not ask, my love, for the love we had before:
You existed, I told myself, so all existence shone,
Grief for me was you; the world’s grief was far.
Spring was ever renewed in your face:
Beyond your eyes, what could the world hold?
Had I won you, Fate’s head would hang, defeated.
Yet all this was not so, I merely wished it so.
The world knows sorrows other than those of love,
Pleasures beyond those of romance:
The dread dark spell of countless centuries
Woven with silk and satin and gold braocade,
Bodies sold everywhere, in streets and markets,
Besmeared with dirt, bathed in blood,
Crawling from infested ovens,
My gaze returns to these: what can I do?
Your beauty still haunts me: what can I do?
The world is burdened by sorrows beyond love,
By pleasures beyond romance,
Do not demand that love which can be no more

firqe waraana fasadaat-welcome my India

gehraa sannaaTaa hai
kuch makaanoN se Khamosh uThtaa hu’aa
gaaRhaa kaalaa dhuuaaN
mail dil meN liye
har taraf duur tak phailtaa jaataa hai
gehraa sannaaTaa hai

laash kii tarah bejaan hai raastaa
ek TuuTaa hu’aa Thelaa
ulTaa paRaa
apne pahiye havaa meN uThaaye hu’e
aasmaanoN ko hairat se taktaa hai
jaise ke jo bhii hu’aa
uskaa ab tak yaqiiN isko aayaa nahiiN
gehraa sannaaTaa hai

(Thelaa : wooden cart)

ek ujRii dukaaN
chiiKh ke baad muuNh
jo khulaa kaa khulaa rah gayaa
apne TuuTe kivaaRoN se vo
duur tak phaile
chuuRii ke TukRoN ko
hasratzadaa nazroN se dekhtii hai
ke kal tak yahii shiishe
is pople ke muuNh meN
sau rang ke daaNt the
gehraa sannaaTaa hai

(hasratzadaa : in anticipation)

gehre sannaaTe ne apne manzar se yuuN baat kii
sun le ujRii dukaaN
ai sulagte makaaN
TuuTe Thele
tumhiiN bas nahiiN ho akele
yahaaN aur bhii haiN
ham inkaa maatam kareNge
magar pahle unko to ro leN
ke jo luuTne aaye the
aur Khud luT gaye
kyaa luTaa
iskii unko Khabar hii nahiiN
kamnazar haiN
ke sadiyoN kii tehziib par
un bechaaroN kii ko’ii nazar hii nahiiN

(manzar : view)

Javed Akhtar