Abida Parveen Sings Ghalib
A Merge of A Poet of Unmatched Intelligence And A Singer of Unparalleled Success
Ghalib the most intelligent and I would say the poet with a critical mindset, who writes with the names, Asad and Ghalib has been a favorite poet among our family and since one of my professors quotes his verses quite often in his lectures, I have felt an unwavering interest to translate his poetry for my honored readers.
Translating Ghalib’s poetry is a task not easy to be done. His poetry is a beautiful blend of Persian and Urdu that makes its translation a task of testing one’s linguistic relativities.
My translations are not a “full stop” and if you have suggestions based on your knowledge of the language/s, you are more than welcome to comment and suggest edits.
A token of gratitude to all my readers who have been the motivation for me to translate these poetries.
A brief Introduction of Ghalib
Ghalib is known for his rebellious poetry, unforgiveness to the cruelty of the world, and blasphemic verses about God, to be honest.
His poetry is a reflection of his life that has been a tragedy, and a very hard life for a man with no other means of income but composing poetry. Even as a poet, he faces professional jealousies and finds no other way to retreat but to drink and drown into a slumber that gives nothing but a timely escape from miseries of life.
His heart is brazen when he composes poetry narrating his feelings for the contemporaries, people who make fun of his hardships, the good doers who criticize his drinking, hopelessness to the heads, and being cynical to himself, as he says in the last verse, that King’s acquaintance gets him the respect that he otherwise couldn’t achieve.
On Every Note You Say
On every note you say
“What You Are?”
Say it yourself,
What’s the manner, the way you talk?!
Not in the blazes of fires,
Nor in the sparks of lightening,
Who is that vivid yet fierce?
With such looks and manner?!
I spite that he converse with you,
Otherwise,
What’s the wickedness of the foe,
feared and despised?
Sticking to the body,
is apparel, in blood absorbed,
What’s the need to tailor,
the vest of such a cloth?
Has the body burned,
heart must be burned too!
Digging the ash you are,
what’s that entice you?
That runs in the vessels,
is not convincing to me!
That didn’t dripped from the eyes,
Is not The Blood to me!
We crave heavens for,
What is it other than?
Rose red wine,
with musk’s odor!
As I drink,
Let me see a barrel or more!
The bowls, cups,
gugglets, and jars are for?
Lost is the power of conversing,
and if there is,
What’s the hope in voicing
out loud, one’s wishes?
Is the friend of the King,
So is walking with pride!
What’s the repute of Ghalib
In this town, otherwise?
~By YM
Thanking Rekhta for the Urdu Transcript of the Poetry and perfect embedded translations of the Persian terms.
You can enjoy the poetry and follow up with the translations as the sequence of verses below complies with that of the singer’s.
On every note you say
“What You Are?”
Say it yourself,
What’s the manner, the way you talk?!
Has the body burned,
heart must be burned too!
Digging the ash you are,
what’s that entice you?
Not in the blazes of fires,
Nor in the sparks of lightening,
Who is that vivid yet fierce?
With such looks and manner?!
That runs in the vessels,
is not convincing to me!
That didn’t dripped from the eyes,
Is not The Blood to me!
Lost is the power of conversing,
and if there is,
What’s the hope in voicing
out loud, one’s wishes?
Is the friend of the King,
So is walking with pride!
What’s the repute of Ghalib
In this town, otherwise?
Love and Blessings,
Writer Yumna