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Saturday 8 February 2014

Allama Iqbal Poems In English

















Spain

Spain! You are the trustee of the Muslim blood
In my eyes you are sanctified like the Harem
Prints of prostration lie hidden in your dust
Silent calls to prayers in your morning air
In your hills and vales were the tents of those
The tips of whose lances were bright like the stars
Is more henna needed by your pretties?
My lifeblood can give them some colour
How can a Muslim be put down by the straw and grass
Even if his flame has lost its heat and fire
My eyes watched Granada as well
But the traveller's content neither in journey nor in rest
I saw as well as showed, I spoke as well as listened
Neither seeing nor learning brings calm to the heart_____!!

Sympathy

Perched on the branch of a tree
Was a nightingale sad and lonely

The night has drawn near', He was thinking
I passed the day in flying around and feeding

How can I reach up to the nest
Darkness has enveloped everything?

Hearing the nightingale wailing thus
A glow-worm lurking nearby spoke thus

With my heart and soul ready to help I am
Though only an insignificant insect I am

Never mind if the night is dark
I shall shed light if the way is dark

God has bestowed a torch on me
He has given a shining lamp to me

The good in the world only those are
Ready to be useful to others who are____!!

The Bird's Complaint

I am constantly reminded of the bygone times
Those garden's springs, those chorus of chimes

Gone are the freedoms of our own nests
Where we could come and go at our own pleasure

My heart aches the moment I think
Of the buds' smile at the dew's tears

That beautiful figure, that Kamini's form
Which source of happiness in my nest did form

I do not hear those lovely sounds in my cage now
May it happen that my freedom be in my own hands now!

How unfortunate I am, tantalized for my abode I am
My companions are in the home-land, in the prison I am

Spring has arrived, the flower buds are laughing
On my misfortune in this dark house I am wailing

God, To whom should I relate my tale of woe?
I fear lest I die in this cage with this woe (grief) !

Since separation from the garden the condition of my heart is such
My heart is waxing the grief, my grief is waxing the heart

O Listeners, considering this music do not be happy
This call is the wailing of my wounded heart

O the one who confined me make me free
A silent prisoner I am, earn my blessings free_____!!

The Candle

O Candle! I am also an afflicted person in the world assembly
Constant complaint is my lot in the manner of the rue

Love gave the warmth of internal pathos to you
It made me the florist selling blood-mixed tears

Whether you be the candle of a celebrating assembly or one at the grave
In every condition associated with the tears of sorrow you remain

Your eye views all with equity like the Secret's Lovers
My eye is the pride of the tumult of discrimination

Your illumination is alike in the Ka'bah and the temple
I am entangled in the temple and the Haram's discrimination

Your black smoke contains the sigh's elegance
Is some heart hidden in the place of your manifestation?

You burn with pathos due to distance from Tajalli's Light
Your pathos the callous ones consider your light

Though you are burning you are unaware of it all
You see but do not encompass the internal pathos

I quiver like mercury with the excitement of vexation
As well I am aware of vexations of the restless heart

This was also the elegance of some Beloved
Which gave me perception of my own pathos

This cognition of mine keeps me restless
Innumerable fire temples are asleep in this spark

Discrimination between high and low is created by this alone!
Fragrance in flower, ecstasy in wine is created by this alone!

Garden, nightingale, flower, fragrance this Cognition is
Root of the struggle of ‘I and you' this Cognition is

At creation's dawn as Beauty became the abode of Love
The sound of "Kun" taught warmth to the spirit of Love

The command came Beauty of Kun's garden to witness
With one eye a thousand dreadful dreams to witness

Do not ask me of the nature of the veil of being
The eve of separation was the dawn of my being

Gone are the days when unaware of imprisonment I was
That my abode the adornment of the tree of Tur was

I am a prisoner but consider the cage to be a garden
This exile's hovel of sorrow I consider the homeland

Memories of the homeland a needless melancholy became
Now the desire for sight, now Longing for search became

O Candle! Look at the excessive illusion of thought
Look at the end of the one worshipped by celestial denizens

Theme of separation I am, the exalted one I am
Design of the Will of the Universe's Lord I am

He desired my display as He designed me
When at the head of Existence' Divan He wrote me

The pearl likes living in a handful of dust
Style may be dull the subject is excellent

Not seeing it rightly is the fault of shortsighted perception
The universe is the show of effulgence of taste for Cognizance

This network of time and space is the scaling ladder of the Universe
It is the necklace of the neck of Eternal Beauty

I have lost the way, Longing for the goal I am
O Candle! Captive of perception's illusion I am

I am the hunter as well as the circle of tyranny's net!
I am the Haram's roof as well as the bird on Haram's roof

Am I the Beauty or head to foot the melting love am I?
It is not clear whether the beloved or the Lover am I?

Am afraid the old secret may come up to my lips again
Lest story of suffering on the Cross may come up again___!!

The Candle And The Moth

O Candle! Why does the moth love you?
Why is this restless soul devoted to you?

Your charm keeps it restless like mercury
Did you teach it the etiquette of Love?

It circumambulates the site of your manifestation
Is it inspired with the fire of your lightning?

Do the woes of death give it the peace of life?
Does your flame possess the quality of eternal life?

If you do not brighten this sorrowful world
This burning heart's tree of Longing may not green up

Falling before you is the prayer of this little heart
The taste for impassioned Love knows this little heart

It has some zeal of the Primeval Beauty's Lover
You are a small ñër, it is a small Kalam

The moth and the taste for the Sight of the Light!
This small insect and the Longing for the Light_____!!

The Cloud On The Mountain

Elevation bestows the sky's nearness to my abode
I am the mountain's cloud, my skirt sprinkles roses

Now the wilderness, now the rose garden is my abode
City and wilderness are mine, ocean is mine, forest is mine

If I want to return to some valley for the night
The mountain's verdure is my carpet of velvet

Nature has taught me to be a pearl spreader
To chant the camel song for the camel of the Beloved of Mercy

To be the comforter of the dispirited farmer's heart
To be the elegance of the assembly of the garden's trees

I spread out over the face of the earth like the locks
I get arranged and adorned by the breeze's

I tantalize the expecting eye from a distance
As I pass silently over some habitation

As I approach strolling towards a brook's bank
I endow the brook with ear rings of whirlpools

I am the hope of the freshly grown field's verdure
I am the ocean's offspring, I am nourished by the sun

I gave ocean's tumult to the mountain spring
I charmed the birds into thrilling chants

I pronounced 'Rise' standing by the verdure's head
I conferred the taste for smile to the rose-bud

By my benevolence farmers' huts on the mountain side
Are converted into bed chambers of the opulent____!!

The Colorful Rose

You are not troubled with solving enigmas
O, beautiful Rose! nor do you have sublime feelings in your heart

Though you ornament the assembly, still you flower apart
In life's assembly I am not permitted such comforts

In my garden I am the complete orchestra of longing
While your life is devoid of love's passionate warmth

To pluck you from the branch is not my custom
I am not blinded by mere appearances

O, colorful rose this hand is not your tormentor
I am no callous flower picker!

I am no intern to analyze you with scientific eyes
Like a lover, I see you with nightingales' eyes

Despite your innumerable tongues, you have chosen silence
What secrets, O Rose, lie concealed in your bosom?

Like me you're a leaf from the garden of Ñër
Far from the garden I am, far from the garden we both are

You are content, but I am a scattered fragrance
Pierced by the sword of love in my quest

This turmoil within me might be a means of fulfillment
This torment, a source of illumination

My frailty might be the beginning of strength
My envy might mirror the cup of divination

My constant vigil is a world-illuminating candle
And teaches this steed, the human intellect, to gallop___!!

The Crescent

The sun's boat is broken and drowned in the Nile
But a piece is floating about on the water of the Nile

The twilight's pure blood drips into the sky's basin
Has the lancet of Nature drawn the sun's blood?

Has the sky stolen the ear ring of the evening's bride?
Or has the fragile cord in the Nile's waters strolling?

Your caravan is afoot without help of bell's call
The human ear cannot hear your foot-steps' sound

You show the spectacle of rise and fall to the eyes
Where is your home? To which country are you going?

O star-like planet take me with yourself
The prick of Longing's thorn keeps me restless

I am seeking light, I am weary in this habitation
I am the restless child in the existence's school_____!!

The Himalayas

O Himalah! O rampart of the realm of India!
Bowing down, the sky kisses your forehead

Your condition does not show any signs of old age
You are young in the midst of day and night's alternation

The Kalâm of ñër Sân« witnessed but one Effulgence
For the discerning eye you are an embodiment of Effulgence

To the outward eye you are a mere mountain range
In reality you are our sentinel, you are India's rampart

You are the diwan whose opening verse is the sky
You lead Man to the solitudes of his heart's retreat

Snow has endowed you with the turban of honour
Which scoffs at the crown of the world-illuminating sun

Antiquity is but a moment of your bygone age
Dark clouds are encamped in your valleys

Your peaks are matching with the pleiades in elegance
Though you are standing on earth your abode is sky's expanse

The stream in your flank is a fast flowing mirror
For which the breeze is working like a kerchief

The mountain top's lightning has given a whip
In the hands of cloud for the ambling horse

O Himalah! Are you like a theater stage
Which nature's hand has made for its elements?

Ah! How the cloud is swaying in excessive joy
The cloud like an unchained elephant is speeding

Gentle movement of the morning zephyr is acting like a cradle
Every flower bud is swinging with intoxication of existence

The flower bud's silence with the petal's tongue is saying
'I have never experienced the jerk of the florist's hand

Silence itself is relating the tale of mine
The corner of nature's solitude is the abode of mine'

The brook is melodiously descending from the high land
Putting the waves of Kawthar and Tasnâm to embarrassment

As if showing the mirror to Nature's beauty
Now evading now rowing against the rock in its way

Play in passing this orchestra of beautiful music
O wayfarer! The heart comprehends your music

When the night's Lailah unfurls her long hair
The sound of water-falls allures the heart

That silence of the night whose beauty surpasses speech
That state of silent meditation overshadowing the trees

That dusk's beauty which shivers along the mountain range
Very beautiful looks this rouge on your cheeks

O Himalah! Do relate to us some stories of the time
When your valleys became abode of Man's ancestors

Relate something of the life without sophistication
Which had not been stained by the rouge of sophistication

O Imagination! Bring back that period
O Vicissitudes of Time speed backwards________!!

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