Mirza Ghalib Translations Poem by Michael Burch

Near Sainthood
by Mirza Ghalib
translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch

On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib,
your words might have seemed deeply profound
and we might have pronounced you a saint...
if only we hadn't found
you drunk
as a skunk!

***

Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Not the blossomings of song nor the adornments of music:
I am the voice of my own heart breaking.

You toy with your long, dark curls
while I remain captive to my black, pensive thoughts.

We congratulate ourselves that we two are different:
this weakness has burdened us both with inchoate grief.

Now you are here, and I find myself bowing:
as if sadness is a blessing, and longing a sacrament.

I am a fragment of sound rebounding;
you are the walls impounding my echoes.

***

Inquiry
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The miracle of your absence
is that I found myself endlessly searching for you.

***

The Mistake
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

All your life, O Ghalib,
You kept repeating the same mistake:
Your face was dirty
But you were obsessed with cleaning the mirror!

***

Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Life becomes even more complicated
when a man can't think like a man...

What irrationality makes me so dependent on her
that I rush off an hour early, then get annoyed when she's 'late'?

My lover is so striking! She demands to be seen.
The mirror reflects only her image, yet still dazzles and confounds my eyes.

Love's stings have left me the deep scar of happiness
while she hovers above me, illuminated.

She promised not to torment me, but only after I was mortally wounded.
How easily she 'repents, ' my lovely slayer!

***

Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It's time for the world to hear Ghalib again!
May these words and their shadows like doors remain open.

Tonight the watery mirror of stars appears
while night-blooming flowers gather where beauty rests.

She who knows my desire is speaking,
or at least her lips have recently moved me.

Why is grief the fundamental element of night
when everything falls as the distant stars rise?

Tell me, how can I be happy vast oceans from home
when mail from my beloved lies here, so recently opened?

***

The Infidel
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Ten thousand desires: each worth dying for...
So many fulfilled, yet still I yearn for more.

Being in love, for me there was no difference between living and dying...
and so I lived each dying breath watching you, my lovely Infidel, sighing afar.

***

It's Only My Heart!
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It's only my heart, not unfeeling stone,
so why be dismayed when it throbs with pain?
It was made to suffer ten thousand darts;
why let one more torment impede us?

***

Bleedings
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Love requires patience but lust is relentless;
what colors must my heart leak, before it bleeds to death?

***

Abstinence?
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Let me get drunk in the mosque,
Or show me the place where God abstains!

***

Step Carefully!
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Step carefully Ghalib—this world is merciless!
Here people will 'adore' you to win your respect... or your
downfall.

***

Ghazal
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

You should have stayed a little longer;
you left all alone, so why not linger?

We'll meet again, you said, some other day like this,
as if days like this can ever recur!

You left our house as the moon deserts night's skies,
as the evening light abandons its cycle.

You hated me: a wife abnormally distant;
you left me before your children were grown.

Only fools ask why Ghalib still lives:
his fate is to live desiring death.

***

Shared Blessings
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Drunk on love, I made her my God.
She soon informed me that God does not belong to any one man!

***

Exiles
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Often we have heard of Adam's banishment from Eden,
but with far greater humiliation, I depart your paradise.

***

To Whom Shall I Complain?
by Mirza Ghalib
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

To whom shall I complain when I am denied Good Fortune in acceptable measure?
Thus I demanded Death, but was denied even that dubious pleasure!

***

A lifetime of sighs scarcely reveals its effects,
yet how impatiently I wait for you to untangle your hair!
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Aah ko chaahiye ik 'umr asar hone tak,
Kaun jeeta hai teri zulf ke sar hone tak.

***

Every wave conceals monsters,
and yet teardrops become pearls.
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Daam-e har mauj mein hai halqa-e-sad kaam-e-nahang
Dekhein kya guzre hai qatre pe guhar hone tak.

***

I'll only wish ill on myself today,
for when I wished for good, bad came my way.
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

khuub tha pahle se hote jo ham apne bad-khvah
ki bhala chahte haiñ aur bura hota hai

***

People don't change, it's just that their true colors are revealed.
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Log badalte nhi 'galib' benaqab hote hai

***

Ten thousand desires: each one worth dying for...
So many fulfilled, and yet still I yearn for more!
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hazaaron khwaishein aisi ke har khwaaish pe dam nikle,
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle..

***

Oh naïve heart, what will become of you?
Is there no relief for your pain? What will you do?
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

dil-e-naadaa. N tujhe huaa kyaa hai?
aaKhir is dard kii davaa kyaa hai?

***

I get that Ghalib is not much,
but when a slave comes free, what's the problem?
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

mai.n ne maanaa ki kuchh nahii.n 'Ghalib'
muft haath aaye to buraa kyaa hai?

***

My face lights up whenever I see my lover;
now she thinks my illness has been cured!
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

unhe dekh kar aati hai chehre pe raunak,
aur wo samajhte hain beemar ka haal achha hai

***

If you want to hear rhetoric flower,
hand me the wine decanter.
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Phir dekhiyen andaz-e-gul afshaani-e-guftar;
rakh de koyi paimaan-e-saiba mere aage

***

I tease her, but she remains tight-lipped...
if only she'd sipped a little wine!
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

main unhein chheDun aur wo kuchh na kahen
chal nikalte jo mai piye hote

***

While you may not ignore me,
I'll be ashes before you understand me.
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

humne maana ke tagaaful na karoge lekin
khaak ho jayenge hum, tumko khabar hone tak