This poem is Iqbal's poetry at its zenith: both mature and ecstatic and musical and profound--it is amongst his most well known ghazals. Here is my inadequate translation of a difficult poem: kabhī ay ḥaqīqat-e muntaz̤ir naz̤ar ā libās-e majāz meñ kih hazāroñ sijde taṛap rahe haiñ mirī jabīn-e niyāz meñ Sometime O' long-awaited Reality [Allah] let us see you in a contingent form! For thousands of prostrations lay waiting in my humble brow! t̤arab-āshnā-e ḳharosh ho tū navā hai maḥram-e gosh ho vuh sarod kyā kih chhupā huʾā ho sukūt-e pardah-e sāz meñ Be joy that knows also clamour; you are a cry, become intimate with the ear! What sarod* is it whose sound remains hidden beneath the silence of the instrument's veil? tū bachā bachā ke nah rakh use tirā āʾinah hai vuh āʾinah kih shikastah ho to ʿazīz-tar hai nigāh-e āʾinah-sāz meñ Do not keep it so safe this mirror of yours-- for yours is such a mirror That if it were to break it would be even dearer in the eyes of the mirror-maker! dam-e t̤auf kirmak-e shamʿa ne yih kahā kih vuh aṡar-e kuhan nah tirī ḥikāyat-e soz meñ nah mirī ḥadīṡ-e gudāz meñ During its circumambulation of the flame the moth said this: "That ancient effect Is neither in your story of burning, nor in my tale of melting!" nah kahīñ jahāñ meñ amāñ milī jo amāñ milī to kahāñ milī mire jurm-e ḳhānah-ḳharāb ko tire ʿafv-e bandah-navāz meñ I could not find safety anywhere in the world ; but the safety eventually found By my terrible sins was in the bosom of Thy servant-forgiving Mercy nah vuh ʿishq meñ rahīñ garmiyāñ nah vuh ḥusn meñ rahīñ shoḳhiyāñ nah vuh ġhaznavī meñ taṛap rahī nah vuh ḳham hai zulf-e ayāz meñ Love no longer has the same fervour, nor beauty the same coquetry; Ghaznavi*no longer is so eager, nor are Ayaz's* tresses so intoxicating! jo maiñ sar basijdah huʾā kabhī to zamīñ se āne lagī ṣadā terā dil to hai ṣanam-āshnā tujhe kyā milegā namāz meñ When eventually I lay down my head in prostration a voice came from the ground: "Your heart is full of idols, what will you gain from ritual prayer?" *Notes: A sarod is a stringed musical instrument from India. Ghaznavi is the famous Afghan king, Mahmud of Ghazna, a Naqshbandi, who conquered parts of north India and laid waste the Temple of Somnath; Ayaz was his favourite slaveboy. The two are a famous, archetypal, pair in Urdu and Farsi poetry.
