Classic Poem

O flowers, did you see my love ? O bulbuls,
Won't you help me find where he has gone ?

Seeking him among flowers, I asked the yemberzals
If he who had charmed me had now come to visit them.

The excited pomegranate blossoms flushed the garden red -
Their flaming colour a symbol of my new-born fire of love !

O come to me on the pretext of visiting flowers -
It won't be a lie, for you will make my garden bloom !

How would he know how I nursed love's agony ?
A love-lore heart lay languishing in silence !

I spent my life like the jessamine flower,
The slender branch never feeling my weight.

I always hoped he would come one day;
The hope remained, while my youth faded away !

I sold my love, obtaining sorrow in return -
That has been my story in the market of love !

Realizing the truth at last, broken-hearted Mahjoor
Says that his beloved never had any; compassion !

[Translated by: Triloki Nath Raina]