O melody’s soul, the world has been unhappy for so long! 

For so long this earth has been restless for you! 

For so long the crowd of longing by the roadside! 

Now pass by! How long have we been waiting for you!

.

There is no splendour in her face, nor the crowd of tresses!

Every atom is distracted, every bud sorrowful!

The whole world stings; the wind is poisonous everywhere!

Now pass by! How long have we been waiting for you!

.

Hair is no longer dishevelled on the face of life! 

The world’s beloved no longer wears the veils of the Virgin Mary! 

Apparently, there is no dearth of messiahs and guides! 

Now pass by! How long have we been waiting for you!

.

For a long time, life-giving songs have been captive! 

For a long time, arrows have pierced the neck of Venus! 

For a long time, your companions have been imprisoned in cages!

Now pass by! How long have we been waiting for you!

.

Still the net of afterlife has been set upon the shoulders of the Kaaba!

Still the unripe madness of religion is in people’s heads! 

Still humanity is the slave of superstition! 

Now pass by! How long have we been waiting for you!

Still the old hag of gold and silver dominates the mind! 

Still the flow of blood from the labourer’s digging has not stopped! 

Let the streets and bazaars become fragrant with the breeze of justice!

.

From: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ (Dance Carpet). Ḥaidarābād, Inḍiyā: Istiqbāliyah kameṭī jashn-i Mak̲h̲dūm, 1966. pp. 92 – 94