Should You Leave Furtively, O Inconsiderate Soul? Poem by Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor

Should you leave furtively, O inconsiderate soul ?
Torn from you, how shall I ever survive ?
I would throw away for you both life and home,

O, don't greet my cries with unconcern.
Pray tell me what I should do to make
Our union last, to make you mine.

For love of you, I bedecked myself
In bridal dress, with painted nails.
How futile! You never thought of me.

Beauty changes minute by minute,
But love discerns it, despite the change.
Flowers change, the bulbul remains !

What could I do when my heart resolved
To bestow itself on a pitiless man ?
My fate has never been kind !

My dearest friend left me so scalded
That no spring breeze can make me bloom,
For the heart doesn't smile like obedient buds.

The heart of Mahjoor and the eyes of Makhmoor,
They live so close, yet so far apart.
The eyes do see, but it's the heart that knows !

[Translated by: Triloki Nath Raina]