O Saqi, Open Wide The Door Of Your Wine Whop! Poem by Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor

O saqi, open wide the door of your wine shop !
Learn this secret: move with the times.
Make your cups and glasses sparkle bright.

Now wine is sold in every shop,
And everyone now sports a glass, -
The wine cellars may soon be dry !

How does it profit the gate-keeper
To hate the moth ? What will he do
With the spent-out lamp at dawn ?

Gyrating round a shrine of love,
I ran into Satan, who cautioned me
Never to adore any man.

Who would help the askha pechan,
Which clutches his neighbour and brings him down,
And, blind to his pain, he blooms and thrives !

Make the foolish rich man understand
That the Sulaiman benumbs the fiercest wind,
And an ant can vanquish a wrestler.

Mankind has gained freedom. Why now should pie
Honour promise and pledge ? We have the licence
To treat faith and trust as junk !

Lovers are sick of love's tedious yearnings:
'How long can one live on abstract love ?
I'll have her now by the will of the people !'

Make the best of all you have. Brief is the time,
For very soon you'll face the storm
When people discover your lovely home.

Once the bulbul asked the gardener
What bound him to his flower beds:
'Go now and occupy some desolate land!'

Mahjoor keeps repeating the message of love,
Taken up madly with his thoughts and plans,
Which make no sense to the strangers!

[Translated by: Triloki Nath Raina]