Though She Would Say Hello To Anyone, A Ghazal Of Mustafa Zaidi In Translation Poem by Ravi Kopra

though she would say hello to anyone
but to me she says it with pleasure

the fragrance of her shy, sultry ways
emanates only from her self

she does not look like a rose yet
still she resembles a bud of jasmine

in the day she is like a simple girl
by night, what a lover is she!

your well being these days
I know only from my enemies

the shaikh earns his living
by the sins he commits at night

there will be further madness
as my couplets show frenzy

***

the original ghazal in Urdu:

yuuñ to vo har kisī se miltī hai
ham se apnī ḳhushī se miltī hai

sej mahkī badan se sharmā kar
ye adā bhī usī se miltī hai

vo abhī phuul se nahīñ miltī
jūhiye kī kalī se miltī hai

din ko ye rakh-rakhāv vaalī shakl
shab ko dīvāngī se miltī hai

āj-kal aap kī ḳhabar ham ko!
ġhair kī dostī se miltī hai

shaiḳh-sāhib ko roz kī roTī
raat bhar kī badī se miltī hai

aage aage junūn bhī hogā!
sher meñ lau abhī se miltī hai