Far on the horizon a wave of light swelled;

The city of pain woke up into dreams

And the eye, still in sleep, began to stir;

Dawn spread out upon the non-existence land of separation;

I poured the morning wine into my heart-glass

And mixed today’s poison with yesterday’s bitterness.

Far away on the horizon a wave of light pulsed,

Far from the eye, carrying the prelude of some morning;

Some melody, some fragrance, some beautiful face carelessly

Passed, traveler-like, through the no-man’s land of separation,

Mixing today’s poison in yesterday’s bitterness,

I wrote of the disappointment of visiting day

To drinking friends at home and in exile,

To the horizon’s beauty, to the charm of lips and cheeks.

.

        Lahore Prison  ∙  March 1959

        

.

From: Naqsh-i faryādī (Image of the Supplicant). Dihlī: Urdū Ghar, 1941. pp. 36 – 37

Sarod-i shabānah is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970