This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Intiz̤ār / Waiting
For the whole night you kept dancing in my tearful eyes
And you kept coming and going like a wisp of breath.
I was happy that my desire’s dream would come,
That my wish would arrive with veil uplifted;
That she would come with eyes lowered and shy;
That she would come with her hair scattered about her face.
My restless heart had found some comfort,
And in my house of sorrow, the shahnai played.
When leaves rustled, I thought that you had come;
My prostrations were happy that they found their object of prostration;
The waking night stars began to feel sleepy;
There was a hope of your coming, but it started to recede;
The dawn rising from its bed yawned.
O morning breeze, you did come after all, but alone.
O my life, O thief of my sleep,
O object of my prostrations, O you overshadowing my soul,
Now come, so that the desire of my submission may be fulfilled;
Now come so that I might breathe my last at your feet.
.
From: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ (Dance Carpet). Ḥaidarābād, Inḍiyā: Istiqbāliyah kameṭī jashn-i Mak̲h̲dūm, 1966. pp. 28 – 29
Intiz̤ār is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970
For the whole night you kept dancing in my tearful eyes
And you kept coming and going like a wisp of breath.
I was happy that my desire’s dream would come,
That my wish would arrive with veil uplifted;
That she would come with eyes lowered and shy;
That she would come with her hair scattered about her face.
My restless heart had found some comfort,
And in my house of sorrow, the shahnai played.
When leaves rustled, I thought that you had come;
My prostrations were happy that they found their object of prostration;
The waking night stars began to feel sleepy;
There was a hope of your coming, but it started to recede;
The dawn rising from its bed yawned.
O morning breeze, you did come after all, but alone.
O my life, O thief of my sleep,
O object of my prostrations, O you overshadowing my soul,
Now come, so that the desire of my submission may be fulfilled;
Now come so that I might breathe my last at your feet.
.
From: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ (Dance Carpet). Ḥaidarābād, Inḍiyā: Istiqbāliyah kameṭī jashn-i Mak̲h̲dūm, 1966. pp. 28 – 29
Intiz̤ār is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970
Leave A Comment