S. R. Faruqi's commentary, “Jur’at’s Shahr-ashob: An Afterword,” appears in the same issue, Annual of Urdu Studies 3 (1983), pp. 11-16 (it is also available through DSAL).

The translation has been slightly edited by FWP for this online version.

The Urdu text is from Kulliyat-e Jur'at, edited by Iqtida Hasan (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1971, 3 vols.) vol. 2, pp. 253-256. The refrain is: huzur-e bulbul-e bustan kare nava-sanji.

[This one was worked over and worked over, while SRF considered the bird names and I tried to contrive ways to bring the bird imagery and wordplay over into English. The price of whatever success we achieved was a meter that changes sometimes with every two lines. But we hope the translation has energy and zest, and captures something of the verve of the original. The story is that a hapless poet with the pen-name "Nava," or "Voice," was rash enough to offend Jur'at; his punishment was to be immortalized in this enjoyably scathing poem.]

<p.1>1
The cheapest carpet-weavers now pass by
In orange shawls bestowed by the sunset sky.
Trapped in the body, my spirit is grieved and stirred:
Isn't it time for Doomsday, when the bald blackbird
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale?

2
The sky gives kingship to those who begged for scraps,
Grass-diggers now have emerald shawls as wraps.
How vile that fishermen fish up ranks and banners!
How foul that the female owl, devoid of manners,
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

3
Country bumpkins now write Urdu verse-- at least, they try.
Carpenters now are artists-- as soon as their pictures dry.
In short, it seems injustice now goes from bad to worse:
The shyama with plucked feathers, born to be perverse,
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

<p.3> 4
Those who sold their wares from trays are now considered great,
He who lived in an outhouse now has a fine estate.
The doorkeeper's mansion is known for its lofty size,
The dried-up jungle babbler-- what a strange surprise!--
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

5
Cobblers wear gold-embroidered shoes, and stroll about in state,
Potters give up earthenware and dine from silver plate.
Shavers of pubic hair now make up poems to recite,
What a disaster-- even the pied mynah, day and night,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

6
Sweepers strut with their noses in the air,
Ne'er-do-wells now have luxury to spare.
Flower-sellers have a hundred gardens to show.
Who likes the cawing, when the female crow
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

7
Blue sky, we suffer under your frown!
The lynx thinks to stare the panther down.
The tail-docked fox holds the tiger at bay,
The shifty-eyed parrot, looking their way,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

8
He goes to fly falcons, on arrogant feet,
Who used to sell weaver-bird chicks in the street.
The banyan-tree goblin goes jabbering around,
The water-hen, as poetry's value is drowned,
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

<p.5> 9
He who sold matches or reeds as his trade
Has made his own flag and commands a brigade.
This world's garden breezes strike my heart with chill,
When the naked-legged baby bird, cracking its shell,
Tries to make its voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

10
Those who once trapped sparrows and sold them, to get by,
Those fowl-born men now fly high in the sky.
When the small kite dares to look the eagle in the eye,
Then the crow's wife, the koyal, with a raucous cry,
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

11
Pimps and cuckolds now flourish daggers and knives,
With the sharp weapons we gave them, they threaten our lives.
How strange it is, o ancient-ceilinged sky,
That an old decrepit shrike, wafer-like and dry,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

12
Now they seek to trap the Bird of Meaning as he goes,
They who once wore nose-rings, and lived by catching crows.
When the carpet-spreader, in arrogance, on a noble throne has sat,
Then from ruined Pithaura, the half-dead bat
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

13
How can those outsiders dream of writing Urdu verse?
Their dialect is rustic and their idioms are a curse!
When such as these with the water of poetry have wet their tongue,
Then the wild partridge, seeing what God has done,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

<p.7> 14
Now poetry is credited to their account, who look
At a beauty's slim white neck, and think of a ledger book!
Since even Punjabi phrases in Urdu now are heard,
Of course, feeling entitled, the foolish bank-mynah bird
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

15
Those quacks who have only snake-oil to sell
Are "Doctors" now, with a huge clientele.
When winds of folly blow in this garden like a gale,
Then, bobbing his head, the painted quail
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

16
The brave now fear for their honor and its fate,
While the eunuchs glare at them with boldness and hate.
With fruitfulness is claimed by the caster-oil tree,
The wretched fan-tailed warbler too, since he has eyes to see,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

17
Resignation now is all that's left for the well-born,
He who posed as a gentle swan now speaks to them with scorn.
When the bee-eater can brave the tiger's claw,
No wonder the crooked nightjar, with his twisted jaw,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

18
Those who carried dirt to brick-kilns by the donkey-load
Now have Turk and Arab riders follow them on the road.
When a whore presumes to fight with a Rustam among men,
Naturally the small red waxbill copulates and then
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

<p.9> 19
Mansion-dwellers now find their houses desolate,
Lime-sellers have mansions now, and live in pomp and state.
The low have swelled to twice their size, with all that has occurred,
The bud eats its heart out, as the white-eye bird
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

20
Through usury and extortion they have millions these days,
They who were given pennies for freeing captive bluejays.
Did you ever before know the parrot beaten by the parakeet?
No wonder the black-headed waxbill, emboldened by this feat,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale!

21
The puppeteer averts his gaze from his old friends and old place,
The shifty-eyed pimp now looks you in the face.
When the crane and the sauras think their voices sweet,
Then even the nachlava, grinding his teeth,
Tries to make his voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.

22
In business his prestige is particularly great
Who once was known as a bird-brain and a feather-weight.
When the grass-nester claims to be a Phoenix, then
What cause for surprise if the dried-up wren
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale?

23
The enemy has vainly thought to equal Jur'at's verse,
Crows who copy swans forget their own gait, and end up worse!
He should renounce all jealousy, go and give him the word:
The rose merely laughs when, with ruffled wings, the little sunbird
Tries to make her voice prevail
In the presence of the nightingale.