Urdu Poetry

I have always been fascinated by Shayari or urdu poetry, for the hidden depth of their meaning. Since we have a considerable no. of members from the subcontinent, why not discuss the best Urdu poets & their exquisite poetry with examples.

Iqbal, Ghalib.

Ghalib

Mirza Ghalib: What Cannot be Said (from Persian)

What Cannot be Said
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

There's one who took my heart away.
But does she own it? I can't say.

See her as unjust though I may,
Is she a tyrant? I can't say.

She strides a bloodless battlefield
Where there's no battle-axe to wield.

She keeps a wineless banquet-hall
Where there's no bowl to raise at all.

Although she serves wine ceaselessly,
Her fingers bring no cup to me.

Her idol-carving hand is sure,
But you cannot call her Āzer¹

When riots quiet down, why must
You brag of ousting the unjust?

There will be nothing you can say
Of the unjust on Judgment Day.

Within the breast the secret lies
Which none can ever sermonize.²

How strange a thing it is that throws
The mind askew till no one knows

How I Ghalib am no believer
But can't be called unfaithful either.

Ghalib

Ghazal 2 It's a little hard for things to be easy when even a man can’t act like a man What stupidity makes me so dependent on her that an hour early I run off to see her and get annoyed when she's not there My lover is so striking she demands to be seen the mirror reflects what it can then widens its eye I have taken to grave the deep scar of happiness while she stands above in her hundred colors She promised not to torment me only after killing me repenting now this woman so quick to repent

Ghalib

Ghazal 4 Leaving I bear the scars of an unfulfilled longing to exist like an extinguished candle I know no place of friendship In unity of senses the door of the mirror has opened the perfect and imperfect are lost within Pursuit has unraveled the strings of beauty's veil leaving nothing but threads for those who can see In my heart the longing to love just one has fallen by knowing no reward but the longing for one I am not a coward of love but I know this heart once full of pride has cowered

Ghalib:

Ghazal 6 Garden of paradise the priest holds precious flowers in the vase to the vital and carnal In the mosaic of mirrors your appearance has caused a mapping of sunbeams through this world of dew Hidden in what I build is the shape of decay in the blood of the farmer is always revolt Thousands of longings are hidden by silence I am words worn from the stone of a child We know that death has come and death will go that is the sum of this world's many faces

Ghalib:

Ghazal 8 It’s time for the world to hear Ghalib again may these words and shadows like doors stay open Night of the watered face of stars has dawned ordered and scattered like flowers where beauty sleeps She is talking and talking who knows my desire at least already her lips have opened Why is grief an element of night when everything falls when open eyes of stars look only to other faces Tell me how I am happy this ocean from home when mail from my beloved is already opened

Ghalib

Ghazal 10 I saw the blaze in a friend but avoided flame I burn only when seeing my own power to see Don’t call me a fire-lover like all of the others when I fight I cause fires too busy to tend Many have tested themselves on the neck of wine’s vessel as she walks the waves of wine tremble We have sold ourselves along with our poems but not anyone can purchase these things The illuminating light was not meant for Mount Sinai good wine should be poured to a glass that can hold it

Ghalib

Ghazal 12 Not the blossom of song not the veil of music I am the sound of my own breaking You toy with the length of your dark curls I am captive to my own dark thoughts We brag to ourselves that we are different this weakness has burdened our simple grief Now you have come and I find myself bowing this blessing a sadness this prayer a longing I am a fragment sounding the dawn you are the walls of my every echo

Edited by Don Quixote - 06-Apr-2012 at 02:08

Ghalib:

Ghazal 14

Wings are like dust for the winds to carry
otherwise feathers would be impatient and strengthless

What basic beauty approaches like this
not even dust on her path only shadows of flowers

Those who are drunk have seen a flower’s shadow
else there would be nothing not even dust in the taverns

I have been humbled by these explosions of love
in this room not even dust just desire to construct

Now these words are I know are a simple pastime
not even dust could be gained by writing