In what words shall I converse with you, O people?

Tell me which words will you understand?

Dear people, you may consider yourself the Buddha’s monk,

The Guru’s disciple, or Allah’s beloved.

First and last, you are man

And when man in this life 

Find time from quarreling,

A feeling takes birth in his mind like a prick,

A longing is born to do something, to do anything,

To say something which appeals to the whole world,

To make something from which desire finds its strength,

To do some work so hatred might disappear from the world.

But this sentiment far of serving mankind is often

Buried within the thoughtful mind. Why does this happen, O people?

What’s the reason for it?

That’s why I’m asking you

Which words will you understand? How should the sentence go?

It may not be that you are left alone and I are left alone.

.

It may be that I won’t be able to show you

Those pictures of pains and pleasures I have seen.

In what words should I speak to you, O people.

Talk to me in those words! Yes, tell me!

.

From: Dard kā shahr (City of Suffering). Lāhaur: Naʼī maṭbūʻāt. 1965. pp. 55 – 56