Amir Khusrow
These are my modern English Translations of Urdu poems by Amir Khusrow.
Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253-1325), better known as Amir Khusro, Amir Khusrow, Amīr Khusrau Dehlavī and Amir Khusro, was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar from India. He wrote poetry in Persian and Hindavi. Khusrow has been called the "voice of India," the "Parrot of India" (Tuti-e-Hind), and the "father of Urdu literature."
Strange Currents
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
O Khusrow, the river of love
creates strange currents—
the one who would surface invariably drowns,
while the one who submerges, survives.
Becoming One
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I have become you, as you have become me;
I am your body, you my Essence.
Now no one can ever say
that you are someone else,
or that I am anything less than your Presence!
I Am a Pagan
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I am a pagan disciple of love: I need no creeds.
My every vein has become taut, like a tuned wire.
I do not need the Brahman's girdle.
Leave my bedside, ignorant physician!
The only cure for love is the sight of the patient's beloved:
there is no other medicine he needs!
If our boat lacks a pilot, let there be none:
we have god in our midst: we do not fear the sea!
The people say Khusrow worships idols:
True! True! But he does not need other people's approval;
he does not need the world's.
(My translation above was informed by a translation of Dr. Hadi Hasan.)
Amir Khusrow’s elegy for his mother
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Wherever you shook the dust from your feet
is my relic of paradise!
Paradise
by Amir Khusrow
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
If there is an earthly paradise,
It's here! It's here! It's here!
The following are links to related translations by Michael R. Burch:
Jaun Elia
Mirza Ghalib
Gulzar
Ahmad Faraz
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Allama Iqbal
Rahat Indori
Nasir Kazmi
Rabindranath Tagore
The HyperTexts