(1)

.

Yesterday raindrops fell as well;

Yesterday the clouds were overcast

—And the poet thought:

Clouds, these dreams of the sky, the shadows of those locks of hair,

Come on the shoulders of the wind like the tumult of hundreds of taverns.

Seasons will change; flowers will bloom; gusts of wind will rain wine.

Tinted scarves will wave in the brightly shining fields; 

Herdsmen will plant a song in the openness with the sound of his flute;

In the mango groves strangers will open their hearts; 

Lightning will flash from the forehead of the young girl high on the swing; 

Stars will blink in the still water of the pond;

Holding her scarf, she will come on the tangled roads: 

Earth, flowers, sky, stars will be rendered dream-like.

Yesterday raindrops fell as well;

Yesterday the sky was overcast,

And the poet thought.

.

( 2 )

.

Today it will rain, too;

Today the clouds are overcast.

—And the poet thinks:

Clouds overcast the city—but whose city is it? 

Nectar will fall upon the earth—but whose earth? 

Happy groups of farmers will plough the field;

The labour of starving people will blossom from the earth; 

Cutting the crop, workers will heap up grain; 

The estate lord will come and take all the capital away.

The old farmer’s house will go up for sale by the money-lender

And some young girl will be sold to pay off a debt; 

Today the masses are also hungry; yesterday they were starving too.

Today the rain will fall; yesterday rain had also fallen.

Today, too, skies are overcast; 

Today, too, it will rain.

—And the poet thinks.

.

From: Talk̲h̲iyān̲ (Bitternesses). Dihlī: Panjābī Pustak Bhanḍār, 1963. pp. 110 – 13

Kal aur āj is quoted in full in Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970