O Queen of life’s city,

How can I thank you?

The wealth of the heart is endless;

How can I complain of poverty?

.

Those who became beggars to your beauty, 

When shall they worry of time? 

They will sell pain and sing songs—

What more pleasurable a trade than these?

..

When the goblet overflowed the assembly gathered; 

Who is obliged to be kind to the sympathizer? 

When the tear dropped, the garden blossomed; 

Who has to worry about the stinginess of spring?

.

We sit here content because the object of love 

Is neither in the temple nor monastery; 

Where should we go to test our future? 

Every idol stands in our audience chamber.

.

Who is so generous that one should 

Talk to him of the currency of the sun and moon; 

Anyone who wishes to do battle with us 

Should first go conquer the universe.

.

                June 1959

            

.

From:Dast-i tah-yi sang (Hand Beneath the Stone). Dihlī: ʻAlīgaṛh: Ejūkeshanal Buk Hāʼūs, 1979. pp. 46 – 48