Why do you worry for no reason at all, madam 

If people say things, they must be speaking the truth. 

My friends must not have learned about manners. 

Human beings must not live where I do.

.

The shine on the face of culture derives from the light of capitalism.

  Civilization cannot thrive where we are.

Poverty blots out the sense of finer things;

Hunger cannot be cast into the mould of manners.

.

If people talk, then why wonder about them?

They speak the truth: What sort of honour do the poor have

People talk—but until now, you’ve been silent.

You might say: What sort of civility is there among the poor

.

Good madam, that age will soon come 

When we will have to examine the periods of life.

I swear by your insults and by your haughtiness,

We will have to measure the touchstone of respect.

.

We have suffered humiliation in every age, but 

We have bestowed light on the cheek of every age;

We have endured the tyranny of work in every age;

We have put henna upon the hands of every age.

.

But what is there to gain from these debates?

If people are talking, then they’re speaking the truth.

My friends must not have learned manners.

Humans must not live where I reside.

.

From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963. pp. 154 – 56

Madam is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970