For centuries the sun kept shining in the sky;

But night overshadowed human perceptions.

Darkness kept its tent in reason’s field;

Darkness continued in hearts and minds 

Despite a raw effort by one religion or the other;

Revelation rained on the people of heart.

Angels continued to descend from heaven;

Pious creatures also kept on doing God’s work;

The sons of Mary came forth and Moseses as well;

There arose Ramas and Gautamas along with Pharaoh and Haman;

There arose people of the sword and People of the Book; 

This gentleman arose and that gentleman came; 

For centuries idols ruled over the human heart;

Islam also overshadowed the world like a cloud of blessings; 

In mosques preachers kept spouting their sermons; 

In temples brahmins kept chanting sacred hymns;

People remained obliged to the Gnostics

But the pain of humanity remained devoid of cure.

The forehead of longing kept on rubbing itself on one threshold or other;

Humanity constantly ground up in the mill of oppression;

Guidance continued; profit mounted,

And in the veil of religion the struggle of Capitalism also progressed;

People with esoteric knowledge kept warming the hearts with this knowledge

But the ignorant-dark shadows kept on stretching their grasps;

These continuous calamities, these assaults, these general massacres! 

How long should people remain slave of false superstition? 

The human mind – now in the darkness of superstition,

In the doubly dark storm-night of Life – 

If nothing else, it has at least seen the dream of dawn.

It has looked in the direction it has never looked before.

                        1939

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From: Āhang (Melody; 1938). Dihlī: Āzād Kitāb Ghar. 1956. pp. 104 – 105