—The entangled strings of desire.

The unseen strings, tied in knots.

.

—Last night some people descended from the stars;

They say: “Untangle the strings of your desire;

Untangle them

Like the rays of the stars 

Lest such star-arrows rain 

So that neither desire nor strings remain!”

.

—The entangled strings of desire—

The passers-by, star-descended, whose leaven is all light,

Are not aware of desire, nor do they know of

The entangled secret of desire’s strings!

The desire of our world, 

The precious commodity of the world of annihilation; 

But these people, the star-descended, 

Are captives in the inevitable strands of eternity!

.

—We say to them: “O inhabitants of Mars . . .”

 (Who knows from which star or other they come!) 

Courteously we say: “O respected people of Mars, 

Don’t you see the color of the entangled strings of these desires?”

But they’re probably not inclined towards color, 

Because they know nothing of them; 

They have a different idea about color—

Their union and separation are different—

Their months and years are different—

.

—With great naiveté we say: “O respected people of Mars!

Haven’t you ever seen 

The color of entangled arms? 

Of glances intoxicated by love? 

The color of sin – – – -?”

.

  With Munibur Rahman

.

From: Lā = insān. (X = Man). Lāhaur: Munīr Niyāzī, 1969. pp. 91 – 93