The Eternity of
Urdu poetry

Yeh Sang Dilon Ki Dunya Hai
Yaha Samhaal kar chalna dost
Yehan Palkon Pe Bithhaya Jata hain
Nazro si giraane ke liye

This is a world of stone hearts
Walk carefully here, friend
Here, they put you on their eyelashes
Only to then drop you from their gaze

 

Urdu poetry stands as one of the world's most exquisite literary traditions. And it’s pretty damn impossible to convey the depth, the beauty, the eternity of Urdu poetry to an English speaker (or any other language) but I’ll try. 

Urdu poetry is what happens when a civilization reaches such heights of cultural refinement that it can distill the entire human condition into couplets that would make Keats weep with envy. It emerged from the courts of the Mughals, that extraordinary flowering of Indo-Islamic culture that gave us the Taj Mahal and more profound things besides, like the understanding that language, when properly wielded, can cut more precisely than any blade. 

A cut to the heart, to the soul, can only be delivered in Urdu. 


The thing that makes Urdu poetery so... Urdu is the ecnomoy of expression.  These are not poets who believe in describing out every tremour of feeling or each shadow of meaning. No, they understand something much much deeper.

That the most profound truths are best delivered obliquely, like a glance across a crowded room that says more than a thousand-page memoir.

The masters, Ghalib, Mir, Faiz & Faraz were architects of human emotion. They understood that poetry's job is not to comfort but to shine the light, show you the tree in the distance and smile as they walk away from you. They wrote for people who knew that life was inherently tragic and that love was mostly a game of loss, and that the only sensible response to existence was a sort of rueful, knowing laughter.

Every mehfil, every gathering where these verses are recited is a masterclass in what we've lost - the ability to sit still, to listen, to let words work their way into your bones. It's the antidote to our hyper-connected, perpetually distracted world.

In the end, we're all just trying to make sense of this beautiful, brutal experience called life. And nobody did it better than the masters of Urdu poetry. They took the human heart, examined it under every possible light, and gave us the words we didn't know we needed.

That's not just poetry. That's survival.

Below are some of my favourite verses I’ve come across. I should warn you, dear English reader, that these translations are like describing a sunset to the blind. They gesture toward beauty they cannot possibly contain. The original Urdu possesses a music, a weight, a perfect architecture of meaning that simply cannot survive the journey into being translated to another language.

You are, I'm afraid, watching this sunset through frosted glass.

kabhī kisī ko mukammal jahāñ nahīñ miltā
kahīñ zamīn kahīñ āsmāñ nahīñ miltā

No one ever gets the world complete,
Sometimes the earth is missing, sometimes the sky

sarfaroshī kī tamannā ab hamāre dil meñ hai
dekhnā hai zor kitnā bāzu-e-qātil meñ hai

The desire for martyrdom is now alive in my heart,
Let us see how much strength the killer's arm possesses

Bazeecha-e-Atfal hai dunya meray aagay
Hota hai shab-o-roz tamasha meray aagay
— Ghalib

The world is but a child’s toy before me,
Day and night, spectacles unfold before me

Khwab Aankhon mein sajaoon to mitadeti hai
Zindagi mujhko bhi jeene ki saza deti hai
— Syed Asif Desnavi

When my eyes dare to dream, they are destroyed
Life even punishes me for trying to live

Yeh Sang Dilon Ki Dunya Hai
Yaha Samhaal kar chalna dost
Yehan Palkon Pe Bithhaya Jata hain
Nazro si giraane ke liye

This is a world of stone hearts
Walk carefully here, friend
Here, they put you on their eyelashes
Only to then drop you from their gaze

Ankein To Pyar Mein Dil Ki Zubaan hoti hai
Chahat to sadaa bezubaan hoti hai
Pyaar mein dard bhi meley
tho kya ghabrana
Suna Hain Dard Se Chahat
Aur Jawan hoti hai

In love, eyes become the tongue of the heart
Desire is always speechless
If pain comes with love
then why worry
I've heard that love grows
stronger through pain

Mil ne ki tarah mujh se
woh pal bhar nahin milta
dil uss se mila jis se
muqaddar nahin milta

The way she meets me
she doesn't stay even a moment
The heart has fallen for the one
with whom is not fated

Kaise kare hum khud ko
tere pyaar ke Kaabil
Jab hum aadatein
badalte hain
tum sharte badal
dete ho…

How can I make myself
worthy of your love
When I change
my habits
you change
your conditions...

Hum ko maaloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin,
Dil ke khush rakhne ko ghalib ye khayaal achha hai
— Ghalib

We know the reality of paradise,
But Ghalib, to be keep the heart happy, 
I still believe it

Hazaaron khwahishen aisi, ki har khwaahish pe dum nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle
— Ghalib

Thousands of desires, each one worth dying for
Many of my wishes were fulfilled,
yet they still seemed too few

Seene me jo dab gaye hai, wo jazbaat kya kahein,
ab khud hi samjh lijiye, har baat kya kahein.

What can I say about the emotions buried in my chest
Now understand it for yourself,
I don’t have to mention everything

Zindagi se kuch zyada nai, bas itni si farmaish hai,
ab tasveer se nahi, tafseel se milne ki khwahish hai

I don't ask for much, just this small request
Now I wish to meet not just the picture, but the details

Aank se dur na ho dil se utar jayega,
waqt ka kya h guzarta h guzar jayega
— Ahmad Faraz

Don't go far from sight, or you'll slip from the heart
What is time? It passes and will pass

Hontho ne sab baate chupa kar rakhi,
aankho me ye hunar kabhi aya hi nahi.

Lips have hidden all the words
but your eyes never learnt this skill

Karne lage hisaab-e-zindagi to ro baithe,
ginte rahe saalon ko aur lamhe kho baithe.

When we began to account for life, we wept
We kept counting years and lost the moments

Bari lambi guftgu karni hai,
tum aana ek puri zindagi lekar

We need to have a long chat,
Come and bring an entire lifetime with you

teri in nafratoon ko pyar ki kushboo bana deta
mere bas me agar hota tujhe urdu sikha deta

I would turn your hatred into the fragrance of love
If it were in my power, I would teach you Urdu

Ghalib Sharab Peene De Masjid Mein Beth Ker,
Ya Wo Jagah Bata Jahan Khuda Nahi.
— Mirza Ghalib

Let me drink wine sitting in the mosque,
or show me a place that God is not

Masjid Khuda Ka Ghar Hai Peene Ki Jagah Nahi,
Kafir K Dil Mein Ja Wahan Khuda Nahi.
— Allama Iqbal

The mosque is God's house, not a place for drinking,
Go to the hear of the infidel,
there you won’t find a God

Kafir K Dil Se Ayah On Ye Dekh Kar Faraz,
Khuda Mojuud Hai Wahan Par Usay Pata Nahi.
— Ahmad Faraz

I’ve just come back from the heart of the infidel,
God exists there but he doesn’t know it

Khuda To Mojuud Duniya Main Har Jagah Hai,
Tu Jannat Mein Ja Wahan Peene Se Mana Nahi.
— Wasi

God exists everywhere in the world,
but go to paradise and there you can drink  

Ab ke hum bichhde to shaayad kabhī ḳhvāboñ meñ mileñ,
Jis tarah sookhe hue phool kitāboñ meñ mileñ.
— Ahmed Faraz

If we part this time, perhaps we'll meet someday
in dreams
The way dried flowers are found in books

Tum itnā jo muskura rahe ho,
Kya ġham hai jisko chhupā rahe ho?
— Kaifi Azmi

You're smiling so much
What sorrow are you hiding?

Sitāron se āge jahān aur bhī haiñ,
Abhī ishq ke imtiḥān aur bhī haiñ.
— Allama Iqbal

Beyond the stars, there are other worlds
There are still other tests of love to come