Holding rows of snuffed candles in our hearts,

Frightened by the sun’s light, bored,

Hugging, clinging to our darkness in an embrace

As we hold the flowing thoughts of the beloved’s beauty.

.

The form of profit and loss, the appearance of beginning and end;

The same futile interest; the same useless question;

Depressed by vapid present moments,

Sad from past memories, weak from future fears.

.

Thirsty thoughts still unquenched,

Burnt-out tears never to reach the eyes,

A stiff pain never to take form in a song,

Caught in the crevices of the heart,

A tangled, confused search for relief,

A longing for wasteland or prison,

A search for the collar of the garment to tear in rage.

.

 

With C. M. Naim

.

From: Naqsh-i faryādī (Image of the Supplicant). Dihlī: Urdū Ghar, 1941. pp. 95 -96

Ham log is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970