Night descends step by step

From the curving staircase of stars of evening;

Thus, the breeze passes by

As if someone has spoken words of love.

Homeless trees in the prison courtyard,

Drooping, lost in making

Designs upon the hem of the sky.

Upon the crest of the roof glows

The graceful hand of the kind moon;

The river of stars is dissolved into dust.

.

The Nile of the Heavens dissolves into light;

The grey shadows in the green corners

Flutter as if the wave of pain 

From separation from the beloved enters the heart.

A thought continuously goes through my heart;

For this moment, life is sweet;

Those who want to mingle the poison of tyranny

Will not succeed today.

.

 What if they also put out

The candles in the bed chamber? So what!

Let us see if they can extinguish the moon.

.

From:  Dast-i ṣabā (Hand of the Wind). Dihlī: Senṭral Buk Ḍipo, 1952. pp. 234 – 35

Zindān̲ kī ek shām is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970