This is the dark night of my youth, a typhoon of darkness; 

All moonbeams and stars fall away from my paths; 

God is asleep; Satan is on a rampage, 

But I keep on going toward my destination.

.

Assaults of sorrow and despondency, black clouds of misfortune; 

Madness causing mutiny, bloodied charms of beauty; 

Great, powerful storms, great wicked evils, 

But I keep on going toward my destination.

.

Dark shadows of death tremble in the sky;

Cold wind gusts plunge a dagger into my heart;

Dreams of past pleasures show me a mirror of temptations,

But I keep on going toward my destination.

.

The earth’s forehead wrinkles in anger; the sky tilts toward destruction;

Among the friends of travel, one is slaughtered, another injured; 

Robbers are in pursuit; rocks block the path, 

But I keep on going toward my destination.

.

The army of darkness has encamped on the horizon of Life;

Violent typhoons of calamity pervade everything;

Darkness, only darkness as far as I can see, 

But I keep on going toward my destination.

.

The temple lamp, the lantern in the mosque, the monk’s candle

For a long time, all of these have been ignorant of the light of knowledge;

The brahmin’s conch and the voice reading poetry to the caravan are now gone too.

Laughter of death; the roar of earthquakes, 

But I keep on going toward my destination.

1937

   

.

From: Āhang (Melody; 1938). Dihlī: Āzād Kitāb Ghar. 1956. pp. 73-76