Couplets

Nishaan-e-mard-e Momin ba too goyam?
choon marg aayad, tobassum bar lab-e-ost
(You ask me for the signs of a man of faith?
When death comes to him
He has a smile on his lips.)


Row mein hai raks oer umar
Kahaam deykheeye thamen,
Na haath baagh par hai
Na pa nakaali mein
(My life runs at a galloping pace
who knows where it will come to a stop
The reins are not in my hands
my feet are not in the stirrups)


Khuda tujhe kisee toofan se aashna kar day
Keh terey beher kee maujon mein iztirab naheen
(May God bring a storm in your life
There is no agitation on the waves of your life's ocean)


Jhoot vee aseen bolney aan
Ghutt vee aseen tolney aan
Par sachey Padshaah
Teyra naa vee aseen Lainey aan
(We admit we tell lies,
We also give short measures
But O True King of Kings
We also take your name.)


Too dil mein to aataa hai
Samajh mein nahin aataa
Bas jaan gayaa teyree pahchaan yahee hai
(You come into my heart,
But my mind cannot comprehend you
I understand this is the only way to know you.)


Sunee hikayat-i-haste to darmiyaan say sunee
Na ibtida kee khabar hai, na intiha maaloom
(All we have heard of the story of life is its middle
We know not its beginning, we know not its end)


Dhoondta phirta hoon main, ai Iqbal apney aap ko
aap hee Goya musaafir, aap hi manzil hoon main
(O Iqbal, I go about everywhere looking for myself
As if I was the wayfarer as well as the destination)


Akhiyan dee laalee pay dasdee
Tusee vee roey ho, roey asee vee haan
(The redness in our eyes has no secret
If you have cried, we too have wept)


Sarsaree nazar maaree jahaan andar
Zindgi varg utthalya main
Daaman koee na milya rafeeq mainoo
Maar kafan dee bukkal tay challiya main
(I gave a cursory glance at the world,
I turned a few pages of the book of my life,
I Daaman could find no companion - so
I fling my shroud over my shoulder. And I go)


Mullah, gar asar ha dua mein
To Masjid hila kay dikha
Gar nahin, to do ghoont pee
Aur Masjid ko hilta deykh
(Mullah, if there is power in your prayer
Let me see you shake the ground
If not, take a couple of swigs of liquor
And see the mosque shake on its own)


Voh waqt bhee deykha taareekh ki ghariyon ney
Lamhon ne khataa ki thee
Sadiyon nay sazaa payee
(The ages of history have recorded times
when for an error made in few seconds
centuries had to pay the price)
(On operation Blue Star 1984)


Sana-e-khud bakhud guftan
Na Zebad Mard-e-daana ra
Choon Zan pistan-e-khud maalad
Kuja lazzat shaved Baakee?
(It does not behove a man of wisdom
to use his tongue in praise of himself
What pleasure does a woman beget
If with her own hands she rubs her breasts?)


Jahaan mein ahle-eemaan soorat-e-khursheed jeetey hain
Idhar doobey udhar nikley;udhar doobey, idhar nikley
(In this world men of faith and self confidence are like the Sun
They go down on one side to come up on the other)


Shauq-e-tool-o-peych is zulmat qade mein hai agar
Bengalee ke baat sun aur Bengalan kay baal deykh
(If you like to add length to a story, put a twist in its tail
Hear a Bengali talk(endlessly) and gaze upon his woman's long hair)


If you would not be forgotten
As soon as you are dead and rotten
Either write things worth reading
Or do things worth writing