This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.

Professor Carlo Coppola, Oakland University

Intiz̤ār / Waiting

Dull moon, quiet sky.

A world quiet in sleep’s bosom.

.

Out there in the valley grey clouds

Bend to kiss the hills.

Anxiously

I wait for you.

.

Come into the shade of this spring;

Love may be found, maybe not!

Tomorrow, life may be kind to your thwarted lover,

Then maybe not.

.

Today, unlike other days, the stars 

Should not disappear in morning’s dust. 

Come. My eyes, ever awake with grief for you,

May sleep, though only for a night.

.

Dull moon, quiet sky.

A world quiet in sleep’s bosom.

.

With M. H. K Qureshi

.

From: Kulliyāt-i sāḥir (Complete Works of Sahir). Dihlī: Nāz Pablishing Hā’ūs. 1995. pp. 145 – 46

Intiz̤ār is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970

             

Dull moon, quiet sky.

A world quiet in sleep’s bosom.

.

Out there in the valley grey clouds

Bend to kiss the hills.

Anxiously

I wait for you.

.

Come into the shade of this spring;

Love may be found, maybe not!

Tomorrow, life may be kind to your thwarted lover,

Then maybe not.

.

Today, unlike other days, the stars 

Should not disappear in morning’s dust. 

Come. My eyes, ever awake with grief for you,

May sleep, though only for a night.

.

Dull moon, quiet sky.

A world quiet in sleep’s bosom.

.

With M. H. K Qureshi

.

From: Kulliyāt-i sāḥir (Complete Works of Sahir). Dihlī: Nāz Pablishing Hā’ūs. 1995. pp. 145 – 46

Intiz̤ār is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970