This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Ek sīn / A Scene
Once at night
A house caught fire in the city.
There’s no remedy
For people’s attraction to color and noise.
I was out, so I thought
I’d stop and watch too.
The thirst of my eyes and ears would be sated a little.
No remedy
For people’s attraction to fire;
The rising flames, yellow and red,
A building crushed and fallen into the fire.
I saw an intoxication
In the eyes glazed with this scene
.
On every lip, a sad word;
In every glance, terror, madness.
Coming back, I thought no remedy
For people’s attraction to noise and color,
To slaying and plunder,
To destruction and war.
.
From: Dard kā shahr (City of Suffering). Lāhaur: Naʼī maṭbūʻāt. 1965. p. 58
Once at night
A house caught fire in the city.
There’s no remedy
For people’s attraction to color and noise.
I was out, so I thought
I’d stop and watch too.
The thirst of my eyes and ears would be sated a little.
No remedy
For people’s attraction to fire;
The rising flames, yellow and red,
A building crushed and fallen into the fire.
I saw an intoxication
In the eyes glazed with this scene
.
On every lip, a sad word;
In every glance, terror, madness.
Coming back, I thought no remedy
For people’s attraction to noise and color,
To slaying and plunder,
To destruction and war.
.
From: Dard kā shahr (City of Suffering). Lāhaur: Naʼī maṭbūʻāt. 1965. p. 58
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