Stint not Tonight's Wine to provision a Vain Tomorrow
Will not Heaven's Saqi vint Hope's vaster Sorrow?
Tho' we know not, alas!, how durée's disgrace came to pass
Tho' we know not, alas!, how durée's disgrace came to pass
Did not Angels bow to what from Dust we yet Borrow?
Why does life begin to leave us at rhapsody's first breath?
The viol's catgut too imprisons Passion's endless death.
The fleet steed of life full gallop then attains
When no foot is in the stirrup, nor hand upon the reins
Though I need to but rise to coincide with my essence
Frozen to the marrow by alterity's delusive presence
Seeing witness and witnessed and witnessing are One
Amazement is the maze which, with us, is never done.
The Ocean encompasses every wave of Existence
Here is but the foam's vain bubble of Persistence
Bashfulness is delightful tho' it but blush at its own.
How many are more naked for veiled 'fore the Throne?
From self-adornment's torment ne'er at leisure
The eye is a Mirror veiled to its own pleasure
Presence, we know, is hidden by the nothing it hides
Who wakes from a dream, over a dream yet presides.
Ghalib, your cup companion has a different scent today
Only Dust's Father-in-law pours Wine of this bouquet.
Transliteration extracted from Prof. Pritchett's 'Desertful of Roses' site which features a comprehensive commentary on each couplet.
kal ke liye kar āj nah ḳhissat sharāb meñ
yih sū-e z̤an hai sāqī-e kauṡar ke bāb meñ
haiñ āj kyūñ żalīl kih kal tak nah thī pasand
gustāḳhī-e farishtah hamāre janāb meñ
jāñ kyūñ nikalne lagtī hai tan se dam-e samāʿ
gar vuh ṣadā samāʾī hai chang-o-rabāb meñ
rau meñ hai raḳhsh-e ʿumr kahāñ dekhiye thame
ne hāth bāg par hai nah pā hai rakāb meñ
utnā hī mujh ko apnī ḥaqīqat se buʿd hai
jitnā kih vahm-e ġhair se hūñ pech-o-tāb meñ
aṣl-e shuhūd-o-shāhid-o-mashhūd ek hai
ḥairāñ hūñ phir mushāhadah hai kis ḥisāb meñ
hai mushtamil namūd-e ṣuvar par vujūd-e baḥr
yāñ kyā dharā hai qat̤rah-o-mauj-o-ḥabāb meñ
sharm ik adā-e nāz hai apne hī se sahī
haiñ kitne be-ḥijāb kih yūñ haiñ ḥijāb meñ
ārāʾish-e jamāl se fāriġh nahīñ hanūz
pesh-e naz̤ar hai āʾinah dāʾim naqāb meñ
hai ġhaib-e ġhaib jis ko samajhte haiñ ham shuhūd
haiñ ḳhvāb meñ hanūz jo jāge haiñ ḳhvāb meñ
ġhālib nadīm-e dost se ātī hai bū-e dost
mashġhūl-e ḥaq hūñ bandagī-e bū-turāb meñ
NB
Once ‘Ali got angry with (his wife) Fatima, and went out (of his house) and slept near a wall in the mosque. The Prophet (ﷺ) came searching for him, and someone said, “He is there, Lying near the wall.” The Prophet (ﷺ) came to him while his (‘Ali’s) back was covered with dust. The Prophet (ﷺ) started removing the dust from his back, saying, “Get up, O Abu Turab! (Father of Dust)”
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