Far on the horizon a wave of light swelled;

The city of pain woke up into dreams

And the eye, still in sleep, began to stir;

Dawn spread out upon the no-man’s land of loneliness;

I poured the morning wine into my heart-glass

And mixed today’s poison with yesterday’s bitterness.

Far away on the horizon a wave of light pulsed,

Far from the eye, carrying the prelude of some morning;

Some melody, some fragrance, some beautiful face— 

Traveller-like—carelessly passed through the no-man’s land loneliness,

Carrying the distraction of hope,

Mixing today’s poison in yesterday’s bitterness,

I wrote of the disappointment in visiting day

To drinking friends at home and in exile,

To the horizon’s beauty, to the charm of lips and cheeks.

.
                    Lahore Prison ∙  March 1959

.

From: Dast-i tah-yi sang (Hand Beneath the Stone). Dihlī: ʻAlīgaṛh: Ejūkeshanal Buk Hāʼūs, 1979.  pp. 43 – 44

Qaid-i tanhāʼī  is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970

             

Far on the horizon a wave of light swelled;

The city of pain woke up into dreams

And the eye, still in sleep, began to stir;

Dawn spread out upon the no-man’s land of loneliness;

I poured the morning wine into my heart-glass

And mixed today’s poison with yesterday’s bitterness.

Far away on the horizon a wave of light pulsed,

Far from the eye, carrying the prelude of some morning;

Some melody, some fragrance, some beautiful face— 

Traveller-like—carelessly passed through the no-man’s land loneliness,

Carrying the distraction of hope,

Mixing today’s poison in yesterday’s bitterness,

I wrote of the disappointment in visiting day

To drinking friends at home and in exile,

To the horizon’s beauty, to the charm of lips and cheeks.

.
                    Lahore Prison ∙  March 1959

.

From: Dast-i tah-yi sang (Hand Beneath the Stone). Dihlī: ʻAlīgaṛh: Ejūkeshanal Buk Hāʼūs, 1979.  pp. 43 – 44

Qaid-i tanhāʼī  is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970