Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat – Faiz Ahmed Faiz

This poetry by Faiz Ahmed Faiz is one of my favourites.

Mujhse pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang

Maine samjha tha ke tu hai to darakhshaan hai hayyaat
Tera gham hai to sham-e-dahar ka jhagra kya hai
Teri soorat se hai aalam mein baharon ko sabaat
Teri aankhon ke siwa dunya mein rakha kya hai

To jo mil jaye to taqdeer nigoon ho jaye
Yun na tha maine faqat chaha tha yun ho jaye
Aur bhi dukh hain zamane mein mohabbat ke siwa
Rahatein aur bhi hain wasl ki raahat ke siwa

Angeenat sadiyon ke taariq bahimanaa talism
Resham-o-atlas-o-kamKhwaab mein bunwaye hue
Jaa-ba-jaa biktey hue koochaa-o-bazaar mein jism
Khaak mein litharey hue, khoon mein nehlaaye hue

Jism nikaley hue amraaz ke tannuuron se
Peep behti hui jaltey hue naasuuron se
Laut jaati hai udhar ko bhi nazar kya ki jiye
Ab bhi dilkash hai tera husn mager kya ki jiye

Aur bhi dukh hain mohabbat ke dukh ke siwa
Rahatein aur bhi hain wasl ki raahat ke siwa

Mujhse pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang

 

English Translation

Don’t ask me now, Beloved, for that love of other the days gone by
I understood if you were, life would always dazzling
With the pain you’ve brought, world’s conflicts are noting
That your beauty forever to the spring would denote,
There is nothing worthy in this world but your eyes;

Fate would have bowed to me if you were mine
That was not to be but in my thoughts I wished for it
Love is not the only the sorrow in the world,
Satisfaction can be had apart from mating as well;

Dark fareful talisman, come down the centuries,
Woven in silk and damask and cloth of gold;
Bodies that everywhere in the streets are sold
Covered with dust, blood pouring from the wounds.

Bodies that have passed through the furnace of ills
With putrid ulcers which their humours spills.
How can I but turn my eyes sometimes that way?
Your beauty is still ravishing, what can I say?

Love is not the only the sorrow in the world,
Satisfaction can be had apart from mating as well;
Don’t ask me now, Beloved, for that love of other the days gone by