Wednesday 10 April 2019

Ghalib ghazal 129

Green grows the leaf of every knotted whorl in each rooted wall of my crack-house of doorless dolor & Grief
Who has the gall, seeing what Spring must bring, to quiz my floorless Fall?
Judge by who smothers our screaming to be just left alone for the Holy sake of Fuck
The type of Job's comforters who criminally waylay every path by which Love blights its Luck.

Speak of Ind as the shadow of the mystic Rose, woe weeded Heaven enthrones as its Gangetic Dawn
Ask not of the intricate erotics of its idols so intertwined as to defeat the ends of Porn.
I am the lethargy of the leaden weights on one pan of Justice' scales 
Lord!, ask not of the Peine forte et dure dream such heavy slumber entails!



hai sabzah-zār har dar-o-dīvār-e ġham-kadah
jis kī bahār yih ho phir us kī ḳhizāñ nah pūchh
1) it's a verdant meadow, every door and wall of the grief-chamber
2) the one whose springtime/flourishing would be this-- then/afterwards/again, don’t ask about his/its autumn!
nāchār bekasī kī bhī ḥasrat uṭhāʾiye
dushvārī-e rah-o-sitam-e ham-rahāñ nah pūchh
1) helpless(ly), endure the longing even/also of/for friendlessness
2) the difficulty of the road, and the tyranny of the road-sharers-- don’t ask!

nāchār bekasī kī bhī ḥasrat uṭhāʾiye
dushvārī-e rah-o-sitam-e ham-rahāñ nah pūchh
1) helpless(ly), endure the longing even/also of/for friendlessness
2) the difficulty of the road, and the tyranny of the road-sharers-- don’t ask!
hindūstān sāyah-e gul pā-e taḳht thā
jāh-o-jalāl-e ʿahd-e viṣāl-e butāñ nah pūchh
1) Hindustan was the shade/shadow of a rose at the foot of a throne
2) the pomp and circumstance of the vow/time of 'union' of idols-- don't ask!

ġhaflat-matāʿ-e kaffah-e mīzān-e ʿadl hūñ
yā rab ḥisāb-e saḳhtī-e ḳhvāb-e girāñ nah pūchh
1) I am the {stupor/heedlessness}-merchandise of a tray of the balance-scale of justice
2) oh Lord, the account of the harshness of the heavy/painful/valuable dream/sleep-- don't ask!

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