TRANSLATION OF IQBAL'S GHAZAL

Pakistan's Cultural Heritage
Ghazal (DigarguN hai jahaN taroN ki gardish tez hai Saqi)







DigarguN hai jahaN taroN ki gardish tez hai Saqi






from Muhammad Iqbal






translation by M. Shahid Alam










The world changes utterly: the stars spin faster, O Saqi.


In every heart I hear the cry of surrender, O Saqi.






God’s journeymen have lost their arts, their certainty.


Whose artifice deceives them, who has this power, O Saqi.






Weak-willed, weak-hearted, dimly they mope about.


Deep is their need for that life-enhancing elixir, O Saqi.






The Muslim lacks the fire that can ignite his heart.


Why is the birth of spirit so hard to deliver, O Saqi.






There rises none like Rumi from the gardens of ‘Ajam.


Persia is the same, unchanged her sky and water, O Saqi.






Iqbal will not walked away from his fields laid waste.


A little dew and sweat will revive its power, O Saqi.






This dervish is privy to the rites, the rigors of power.


His words are rare, he ignites visions of splendor, O Saqi.