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

Yih sab kyā thā / What Was All That?

I thought it was a dream

But when my eyes opened

I looked about, startled

That I was not—in my bed.

Barefoot, in my robe I was 

Standing on my toes, face pasted to the window

Peeping into a house

That had been closed up for ten days.

.

From:  Āk̲h̲irī din kī talāsh (Search for the Last Day). Allāhābād: Shabk̲h̲ūn Kitāb G̲h̲ar, 1968. p. 43

             

I thought it was a dream

But when my eyes opened

I looked about, startled

That I was not—in my bed.

Barefoot, in my robe I was 

Standing on my toes, face pasted to the window

Peeping into a house

That had been closed up for ten days.

.

From:  Āk̲h̲irī din kī talāsh (Search for the Last Day). Allāhābād: Shabk̲h̲ūn Kitāb G̲h̲ar, 1968. p. 43