Bilingual poems: English poems with their Hindi/Urdu original, both in rhyme and meter. |
LIGHTNING: a semi-ghazal [Describes how each glance and gesture of a beautiful woman can pierce the hearts of men] Like lightning, each your gesture is, With thousand silent messages. Not I alone, O beauty queen, Charmed by you whole the mahfil is. Even for those on verge of death Your smile truly like nectar is. Hold back these lightning bolts, Khalish, Truly killing each gesture is. * Written in 8-8 format * Mahfil—A group of persons, a friendly circle, a club. * Feminine eye gestures have a special place in oriental thought, culture and literature. These provide highly fertile ground for poetry, probably next in importance only to the oriental, especially Urdu poetic symbol of the flame and the moth. Anthropologically, this is most likely related to the shape, size and texture of oriental Caucasian races. It is relevant to point out here that a common remark made to Indian women by ladies visiting from the West is: “Your eyes are very expressive”. * Translated from my original ghazal in Hindi, given below. For learning more about ghazal, see "WHAT IS A GHAZAL AND HOW TO WRITE IT?" . A partial attempt has been made in this translation to adopt the ghazal style. It is partial because the translated version has refrain but lacks monorhyme, due to translational difficulties related to differential language characteristics. M C Gupta 'Khalish' Created: 21 May 2003 as item 711013 Deleted as independent item: 28 may 2005 ********************************************** The original Hindi-Urdu original ghazal: BIJALEE tumhaarii har adaa mein ek bijalee kondh jaatii hai honth hilte nahin par lakh sandese sunaatii hai sirf hum hii nahin bismil tere aiye husn ki malkaa bharii mahfil ke seene mein tadap ek thartharaatii hai asar muskaan ka apnii jaraa puuchh apne maaron se kisii kii jaan jaatii ho to phir se laut aatii hai jaraa in bijlion ko aiye Khalish dheere se azmaao, chamakatii hain to yuun lagataa hai jaise jaan jaatii hai |