and bahadur shah zafar: lagtaa nahiN hai ji mera ujDey diyaar meiN kis ki bani hai `aalam-e-naa paayedaar meiN kah do in hasaratoN se kaheeN aur jaa baseN itnee jagah kahaaN hai dil-e-daagh daar meiN `umr-e-daraaz maaNg kar laaye the chaar din do aarzu meiN kaT gaye do intezaar meiN kitnaa hai bad naseeb zafar dafn ke liye do gaz zameen bhi na mili kuu-e-yaar meiN
ibrahim zauq: laayi Hayaat aaye qazaa le chali chaley apnee khushi se aaye na apnee khushi chaley behtar to hai yahi ke na duniya se dil lagey par kya kareN jo kaam na be dillagi chaley ho `umr-e-Khizr bhi to kaheNge ba waqt-e-marg ham kyaa rahey yahaaN abhi aaye abhi chaley duniyaa ne kis ka raah-e-fanaa meN diyaa hai saath tum bhi chale chalo yuN hi jab tak chali chaley naazaaN na ho khirad pey jo hona hai wohi ho daanish teri na kuch meri daanishwari chaley kam honge is bisaat pey ham jaise bad qimaar jo chaal ham chale woh nihaayat buri chaley jaate hawaa-e-shawq meiN haiN is chaman se zauq apni balaa se baad-e-sabaa ab kahiN chaley [beat you to it aj! translation follows]
Ghalib in his Urdu Divan has said something similar in his own inimitable style: Sab kahaan, kuch laalah-o-gul mein namaayaaN hogayein Khaak mein kitni sooratein hoongi, ke pinhaaN ho gayein Where are the rest? Some have been transformed into tulips and roses How many lovely faces must be lying hidden beneath the dust!
:s1: beautiful threat Sidi Abu Hasan! It reminds me of a famous legend about Iskandar Dhulqarnayn. When he was about to die he asked his companions to bury him with his hands outstretched and remaining outside of his coffin so that people could see that although he was the ruler of the world, he had left the world empty-handed. Sahir Ludhiyaanvi's nazm Taj Mahal is also about similar themes if i remember correctly. This is a great idea for a thread! Let us make it long by posting other poems/stories with similar themes...
Re: the kings and their kingdoms fall to ruins and shakespeare: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd, Crooked elipses 'gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. [sonnet:60] -------------------- That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long. [sonnet:73]
Re: the kings and their kingdoms fall to ruins a similar poem has been written by tolkien. in 'the lord of the rings' where aragorn translates into common speech what a poet from rohan said long ago recalling eorl the young : where now the horse and the rider? where is the horn that was blowing? where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? where is the spring and the harvest and the corn growing? they have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; the days have gone down in the west behind the hills into shadow. who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, or behold the flowing years from the sea returning? --- [chapter six: the king of the golden hall]
a long article but food for thought, if read in the proper perspective. how much did they live, how much they wasted and what did they carry to their graves? http://www.travelintelligence.net/wsd/articles/art_832.html --- compare this with today's arab super-rich: http://travel.guardian.co.uk/hotels/story/0,,1435747,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1708287,00.html ---------------------------------- it is said that malik ibn dīnār raĥmatullāhi álayh passed by a graveyard and he said: ataytu’l qubūra fa nādaytuhā fa ayna’l muážžamu wa’l muĥtaqar? wa ayna’l mudhillu bi sulţānihi wa ayna’l muzakkī idhā ma’ftakhar i come to the graves and call out where are the majestic and where are the humble? and where are those who triumphed by their power and where are those who prided in their chastity? ----- it is said that he heard someone say: tafānū jamīán fa mā mukhbirun wa mātū jamīán wa māta’l khabar tarūĥu wa taghdū banātu’th tharā fa tamĥū maĥāsina tilka’s suwar fa yā sāyilī án unāsi’n mađū amā laka fīmā tarā mútabar? all are destroyed; there is none to reply all have died, and so have their stories days and nights roll by and the earth, devours and erases those beautiful images, o who inquires of those that have passed have you learnt any lesson from what you see? [the 2nd and 3rd lines can be simple in meaning as ‘they are buried in the earth and as days pass, their faces are disfigured’ or can be very deep and profound:‘the images of the luxury, their triumphs, their extravagant lives are erased as days pass on this earth.’] mukāshafatu’l qulūb, chapter 27 on death, attributed to imām ghazāli [there references to writers and books from a later age; that is why i have reservations on its authenticity. even imam subki didn't include in his booklist in his biographical note in his 'Tabaqat.' dr.badawi in his 'muallafat' lists it under pseudo-works, but a useful book nevertheless. there are few aberrations and some passages that are indigestible, but a good book overall. Allah ta'ala knows best]
