ایک آرزو Ek Aarzoo (A Longing)

ऐ रब! दुनिया के शोर से थक गया हूँ; पहाड़ की झोपड़ी चाहता हूँ।

Opening lines (verbatim; source: Rekhta / Kulliyat-e-Iqbal). Meaning: O Lord, I am weary of the world's gatherings - what joy is a gathering when the heart itself has gone out? I flee from clamour; my heart seeks a silence to which even speech would be sacrificed. I am in love with stillness; my longing is for a small hut in the lap of a mountain.

चिड़ियों, चश्मे, फूलों में मुझे संगीत और पैग़ाम मिले।

May I spend my days in solitude with free thought, the thorn of the world's grief drawn out of my heart. May the chirping of birds hold the delight of music, the rushing of the spring sound like an instrument playing. May the bursting bud of a flower bring someone's message, and a tiny cup become for me a world-revealing mirror. (Verbatim; source: Rekhta.)

हरी घास का बिछौना, साफ़ नदी, मनमोहक पहाड़।

May my pillow be my hand and my bed the green grass; may rows of green plants stand on both sides, the river's clear water taking their reflection. May the mountain view be so enchanting that even the water rises wave by wave to gaze at it. (A lovely word-picture of nature.) (Verbatim; source: Rekhta.)

मेरा दीया थके राहियों की उम्मीद बने; कोयल मेरी हमनवा हो।

When night travellers halt in weariness, may my 'broken lamp' (humble light) be their hope. When clouds gather everywhere in the sky, may the lightning's flash show them my cottage. The pre-dawn koel, that muezzin of the morning - may I be its fellow-singer and it mine. (The poet longs to be of use to others and to sing in tune with nature.) (Verbatim; source: Rekhta.)

मेरा रोना दुआ बने और सोए दिलों को जगा दे।

Closing lines (verbatim; source: Rekhta). Meaning: when the dew comes to perform the flowers' ablution, may my weeping be my ablution and my cry my prayer. In this silence may my laments rise so high that my voice becomes the bell of departure for the caravan of stars. May my weeping move every aching heart to tears, and perhaps awaken those who lie senseless (in heedlessness). (The poem rises from a longing for solitude to a longing to awaken humanity.)