This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Badalte mausam / Changing Seasons
The same loving words; the same sweet talk;
The same silvery days; the same fragrant night;
I always say, “You’re very beautiful.”
From you: “You alone are my destiny.”
My same old song: “I can’t live without you,
Can’t drink any other wine after drinking from your lips.”
.
All this is fine . . . but boring!
If the season doesn’t change, one becomes fed up;
If only I had once taken someone as my own—casually;
If only I had spurned you, earned your curses;
If only I had also heard: “You’re nasty!”
If only I had also said: “You’re a complete fool!”
.
Come, now let us do this so that we may taste living,
So that some window of this house may open and a fresh breeze might enter.
.
1963
.
From: Nayā ʻahdnāmah (New Testament). ʻAlīgaṛh: ʻAlīgaṛh Buk Hāʼūs, 1965. pp. 132 – 33
The same loving words; the same sweet talk;
The same silvery days; the same fragrant night;
I always say, “You’re very beautiful.”
From you: “You alone are my destiny.”
My same old song: “I can’t live without you,
Can’t drink any other wine after drinking from your lips.”
.
All this is fine . . . but boring!
If the season doesn’t change, one becomes fed up;
If only I had once taken someone as my own—casually;
If only I had spurned you, earned your curses;
If only I had also heard: “You’re nasty!”
If only I had also said: “You’re a complete fool!”
.
Come, now let us do this so that we may taste living,
So that some window of this house may open and a fresh breeze might enter.
.
1963
.
From: Nayā ʻahdnāmah (New Testament). ʻAlīgaṛh: ʻAlīgaṛh Buk Hāʼūs, 1965. pp. 132 – 33
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