This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
T̤arḥ-i nau / New Turn
Let’s be strangers again.
.
I won’t expect your soft, encouraging words,
And you shouldn’t throw coy glances at me.
My nervous talk won’t tattle of love’s beat in my heart,
And your eyes shouldn’t betray your secret struggle.
.
Something stops you from coming to me.
They tell me these charms belong to someone else.
There are tales about your past
And shadows in your nights.
.
Better forget familiarity if it becomes contempt;
Better to break friendship’s bonds if they burden.
The story that cannot be ended
Is better if given a new turn, then given up.
.
Let’s be strangers again.
.
With M. H. K Qureshi
.
From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963. pp. 86 – 87
Let’s be strangers again.
.
I won’t expect your soft, encouraging words,
And you shouldn’t throw coy glances at me.
My nervous talk won’t tattle of love’s beat in my heart,
And your eyes shouldn’t betray your secret struggle.
.
Something stops you from coming to me.
They tell me these charms belong to someone else.
There are tales about your past
And shadows in your nights.
.
Better forget familiarity if it becomes contempt;
Better to break friendship’s bonds if they burden.
The story that cannot be ended
Is better if given a new turn, then given up.
.
Let’s be strangers again.
.
With M. H. K Qureshi
.
From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963. pp. 86 – 87
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