Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmed Faiz is one of the most famous Urdu poets. His reputation is such that he has been called "the Poet of the East." I have added a new English translation requested by Lishaelle.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) was an influential Pakistani intellectual and one of the most famous poets of the Urdu language. His reputation is such that he has been called "the Poet of the East." His name is often spelled Faiz Ahmad Faiz in English. These are my modern English translations of Urdu poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Last Night
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Last night, your memory stole into my heart—
as spring sweeps uninvited into barren gardens,
as morning breezes reinvigorate dormant deserts,
as a patient suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason ...
Last Night (II)
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Last night, your lost memory returned …
as spring steals silently into barren gardens,
as cool breezes stir desert sands,
as an ailing man suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason …
Tonight
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight! Days smoldering
with pain in the end produce only listless ashes ...
and who the hell knows what the future may bring?
Last night’s long lost, tomorrow's horizon’s a wavering
mirage. And how can we know if we’ll see another dawn?
Life is nothing, unless together we make it ring!
Tonight we are love gods! Sing!
Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight!
Don’t harp constantly on human suffering!
Stop complaining; let Fate conduct her song!
Give no thought to the future, seize now, this precious thing!
Shed no more tears for temperate seasons departed!
All sighs of the brokenhearted soon weakly dissipate ... stop dithering!
Oh, do not strike the same flat chord again! Sing!
Speak!
by Faiz Ahmad Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Speak, while your lips are still free.
Speak, while your tongue remains yours.
Speak, while you’re still standing upright.
Speak, while your spirit has force.
See how, in the bright-sparking forge,
cunning flames set dull ingots aglow
as the padlocks release their clenched grip
on the severed chains hissing below.
Speak, in this last brief hour,
before the bold tongue lies dead.
Speak, while the truth can be spoken.
Say what must yet be said.
Speak! (II)
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Speak, if your lips are free.
Speak, if your tongue's still your own.
And while you can still stand upright,
Speak if your mind is your own.
Desert of Solitude
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as performed by Iqbal Bano
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
In the wastelands of solitude, my love,
the echoes of your voice quiver,
the mirages of your lips waver.
In the deserts of alienation,
out of the expanses of distance and isolation's debris
the fragrant jasmines and roses of your presence delicately blossom.
Now from somewhere nearby,
the warmth of your breath rises,
smoldering forth an exotic perfume―gently, languorously.
Now far-off, across the distant horizon,
drop by shimmering drop,
fall the glistening dews of your beguiling glances.
With such tenderness and affection—oh my love!—
your memory has touched my heart's cheek so that it now seems
the sun of separation has set; the night of blessed union has arrived.
Do Not Ask
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Do not ask, my love, for the love that we shared before:
You existed, I told myself, so existence shone.
For a moment the only light that I knew, alone,
was yours; worldly griefs remained dark, distant, afar.
Spring shone, as revealed in your face, but what did I know?
Beyond your bright eyes, what delights could the sad world hold?
Had I won you, cruel Fate would have ceded, no longer bold.
Yet all this was not to be, though I wished it so.
The world knows sorrows beyond love’s brief dreams betrayed,
and pleasures beyond all sweet, idle ideals of romance:
the dread dark spell of countless centuries and chance
is woven with silk and satin and gold brocade.
Bodies are sold everywhere for a pittance—it’s true!
Besmeared with dirt and bathed in bright oceans of blood,
Crawling from infested ovens, a gory cud.
My gaze returns to you: what else can I do?
Your beauty haunts me still, and will to the last.
But the world is burdened by sorrows beyond those of love,
By pleasures beyond romance.
So please do not demand a love that is over, and past.
When Autumn Came
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
So it was that autumn came to flay the trees,
to strip them nude,
to rudely abase their slender dark bodies.
Fall fell in vengeance on the dying leaves,
flung them down to the forest floor
where anyone could trample them to mush
undeterred by their sighs of protest.
The birds that herald spring
were exiled from their songs—
the notes ripped from their sweet throats,
they plummeted to the earth below, undone
even before the hunter strung his bow.
Please, gods of May, have mercy!
Bless these disintegrating corpses
with the passion of your resurrection;
allow their veins to pulse with blood again.
Let at least one tree remain green.
Let one bird sing.
Wasted
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
You have noticed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips …
In whose imagination I have lost everything.
Countless
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I recounted the world's countless griefs
by recounting your image countless times.
Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Lishaelle
Don't rekindle the love of lost days, my beloved.
I used to feel your presence would brighten my life;
That if I shared your grief, I could ignore my own struggles;
That your beauty assured me of perennial blossomings;
That there is nothing dearer than the sight of your eyes.
I thought being with you would enthrall the fates;
Alas, it was not to be, not so simple.
For the world has many sorrows apart from love’s
And there are reliefs more potent than our reunion.
Countless centuries bound by this dark enchantment,
Tender bodies draped in silks, satins and brocades
Are now being pandered in alleys and marketplaces,
Caked in ashes, dragged through dirt, drenched in blood.
Bodies fume from diseased furnaces;
Pus oozes from decomposing ulcers;
and yet I cannot look away, my love!
Your beauty remains as alluring as ever,
but how can I ignore the griefs surrounding me!
For the world has many sorrows apart from love’s
And there are more potent reliefs than our reunion.
Don't rekindle the love of lost days, my beloved.
The following are links to other translations by Michael R. Burch:
Jaun Elia
Mirza Ghalib
Gulzar
Ahmad Faraz
Allama Iqbal
Rahat Indori
Nasir Kazmi
Amir Khusrow
Rabindranath Tagore
"Tonight" is a poem that reminds us not to focus all our thoughts on pain and suffering, but to realise also our capacity for happiness ... our ability to change ourselves into love-gods and sing sometimes, rather than wallowing always in the same melancholy mindset. This is a powerful poem with an important message, and your fine translation does justice to it.
Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight!
Don’t harp constantly on human suffering!
Stop complaining; let Fate conduct her song!
Give no thought to the future, seize now, this precious thing!
Shed no more tears for temperate seasons departed!
All sighs of the brokenhearted soon weakly dissipate ... stop dithering!
Oh, do not strike the same flat chord again! Sing!
I’m genuinely honoured. Thank you for such a beautiful gesture , it’s not every day that someone places your name beside Faiz and Elia. Your words, your translation, and this dedication mean more than I can express. I’ll carry this with me for a long, long time.