This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.

Professor Carlo Coppola, Oakland University

Lak̲h̲t-i jigar / Piece of the Heart

(For Christ)

Millions of times you may well go and throw love into a deep well,

But a voice will follow you,

Sometimes becoming the song of the moonlit night,

Sometimes the mad laughter of a stark darkness;

It will go on pursuing;

Yes, a voice will go on pursuing.

That voice,

An unwanted, fatherless child

One day

Supported by the cross

Became the guide of humanity,

Then it became God.

A mother

Many years ago

Afraid of time

Left a piece of her heart

By the roadside;

That unwanted, fatherless child

One day

Supported by the cross

Became the guide of humanity;

And afterwards, God. 

.

From: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ (Dance Carpet). Ḥaidarābād, Inḍiyā: Istiqbāliyah kameṭī jashn-i Mak̲h̲dūm, 1966. pp. 213 – 15

Lak̲h̲t-i jigar  is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970

             

Millions of times you may well go and throw love into a deep well,

But a voice will follow you,

Sometimes becoming the song of the moonlit night,

Sometimes the mad laughter of a stark darkness;

It will go on pursuing;

Yes, a voice will go on pursuing.

That voice,

An unwanted, fatherless child

One day

Supported by the cross

Became the guide of humanity,

Then it became God.

A mother

Many years ago

Afraid of time

Left a piece of her heart

By the roadside;

That unwanted, fatherless child

One day

Supported by the cross

Became the guide of humanity;

And afterwards, God. 

.

From: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ (Dance Carpet). Ḥaidarābād, Inḍiyā: Istiqbāliyah kameṭī jashn-i Mak̲h̲dūm, 1966. pp. 213 – 15

Lak̲h̲t-i jigar  is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970