This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Vāpsī / Return
( 1 )
.
The flowers of suffering, flames of evil, grass of contentment
All nonsense!
Lermentov, Dostoyevsky, Baudelaire and Stendhal,
One a greater pest than the other!
Gautama Buddha and Plato, simple
Pure madness!
.
Open your eyes. Don’t be blind;
Thought and body are your wealth;
Leave the stars! Look at the earth;
The writing of your fate
On your forehead is tied to it.
Toil and eat bread. Come, brother, return.
.
( 2 )
.
I’ve left everything—I returned.
I returned to earth; I came home.
Bread, water, milk and butter
My life
Nanak and Bullhe Shah
Straight roads.
.
I loved the hearth;
Every man and woman are my beloved.
I work the whole day and sleep at night;
In union and friendship, I am happy; in loneliness, I weep.
.
August 1959
.
From: Dard kā shahr (City of Suffering). Lāhaur: Naʼī maṭbūʻāt. 1965. pp. 39 – 40
( 1 )
.
The flowers of suffering, flames of evil, grass of contentment
All nonsense!
Lermentov, Dostoyevsky, Baudelaire and Stendhal,
One a greater pest than the other!
Gautama Buddha and Plato, simple
Pure madness!
.
Open your eyes. Don’t be blind;
Thought and body are your wealth;
Leave the stars! Look at the earth;
The writing of your fate
On your forehead is tied to it.
Toil and eat bread. Come, brother, return.
.
( 2 )
.
I’ve left everything—I returned.
I returned to earth; I came home.
Bread, water, milk and butter
My life
Nanak and Bullhe Shah
Straight roads.
.
I loved the hearth;
Every man and woman are my beloved.
I work the whole day and sleep at night;
In union and friendship, I am happy; in loneliness, I weep.
.
August 1959
.
From: Dard kā shahr (City of Suffering). Lāhaur: Naʼī maṭbūʻāt. 1965. pp. 39 – 40
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