This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.

Professor Carlo Coppola, Oakland University

Taz̤ād / Contradiction

The smiling reflection of someone’s face

In your street

Was saying to a moment,

Never seek me out

In the passageway of time past.

That same face, that same moment,

I saw them embracing today again

In the passageway of time past. 

But it’s certain

That in your street

The reflection of some other face

Would be saying in the same way 

To some other moment,

“Never seek me out

In the passageway of time past.”

.

From: Ism-i aʻẓam (Name of the Greatest [God]). ʻAlīʹgaṛh: Inḍiyan Buk Hāʻūs, 1965. pp. 24

             

The smiling reflection of someone’s face

In your street

Was saying to a moment,

Never seek me out

In the passageway of time past.

That same face, that same moment,

I saw them embracing today again

In the passageway of time past. 

But it’s certain

That in your street

The reflection of some other face

Would be saying in the same way 

To some other moment,

“Never seek me out

In the passageway of time past.”

.

From: Ism-i aʻẓam (Name of the Greatest [God]). ʻAlīʹgaṛh: Inḍiyan Buk Hāʻūs, 1965. pp. 24