S. R. Faruqi:

(1) My ceaseless fretfulness while waking has now become well known.
And my weeping and lamenting at the midnight hour have penetrated the realm beyond space.

(2) Every scratch of my fingernails on my face looks like a wound.
My handicraft has now become an exhibition piece.

(3) After the rose departed I went into the garden a hundred times, and
on many nights I filled numerous empty flower beds with water from my eyes.

(4) Her victim's feeble and dusty body is all roiled with dust.
There is blood flowing from it like stripes--stripes not entirely devoid of artistic pleasure.

(5) Not even the dust from the lovers' graves showed anywhere in the air.
They gave up their lives, but didn't give up their love's secrets.

(6) For which of my many lifeless, unviable desires should I mourn now?
I had hopes from her in a hundred different ways.

(7) People will go about in the streets saying and reciting these Rekhta verses.
These words of mine will long remain in people's memories.

(8) Little did I know that such days would be upon me so soon:
Now I do nothing all night but weep.

(9) The rose spoke and talked to me in a thousand colorful ways,
but your lovely sweet talk didn't leave my heart.

(10) You'll forget the times and doings of Qais and Farhad
If ever the time comes for us brokenhearted ones.

(11) Had Mir gotten through just one more night, he'd surely have survived.
Farhad, after all, did hack his way through numerous hard nights.

 

FWP:

(inspired by SRF's translation)

(1) Everyone knows I'm restless in the days.
My deep-night laments reach far beyond all walls.

(2) On my face, every nail-scratch looks like a wound--
Now it's become worth seeing, my handiwork.

(3) When the rose left-- a hundred times, in the garden,
in the nights I watered the flower-beds with my tears.

(4) On the wretched dust-covered body of her slain one,
the streams of blood are not devoid of charm.

(5) From the graves of lovers, dust never arose--
They gave up their lives, but never gave up their secrets.

(6) Now, for which dead longing shall I grieve?
I had so many hundreds of hopes from her.

(7) People will go through the streets reciting these verses.
They'll be long remembered, these words of mine.

(8) Little did I know such days would come so quickly--
All my nights are now spent in weeping.

(9) The rose coquetted with me in a thousand ways, but
your lovable winsome words never left my heart.

(10) You'll forget the era of Farhad and Qais
if we heart-broken ones ever get our turn.

(11) If one more night had passed, he'd have been saved, Mir.
Kohkan had cut through many heavy nights.

 

Zahra Sabri:

Zahra Sabri is a special guest translator for this site.

(1) Famed are my heart’s commotions during the daytime
They travel beyond space – my cries in the heart of the night

(2) It’s like a wound – every scratch of the nails on my face
My handwork has now become a sight worth seeing

(3) A hundred times, upon the rose’s leaving, in the middle of the garden, I
Have filled the flowerbeds at night with moisture from my eyes

(4) On the wretched, dust-ridden corpse of the one she’s slain
The stripes of blood are not empty of elegance

(5) Dust never rose up from the tomb of the lovers
Their life ended, but they didn’t end keeping love’s secrets

[The idiom ;Gubaar u;Thnaa carries both the meaning of ‘dust rising up from
somewhere’ and of ‘for grief or ill-feeling to develop’. Mir’s verse plays on both of these.]

(6) Now which one of my many dead desires shall I lament over
I had hundreds upon hundreds of hopes linked to her

(7) People will go about reciting these verses in the streets 
These words of mine will be remembered for a long time

(8) Little did I know such days would come so soon 
It is in tears that all my nights pass

(9) The rose said a thousand varied things, but 
But your lovely, winsome words didn’t leave my heart

(10) You’ll forget the era of Farhad and Majnun 
If we broken-hearted ones, too, get our turn

(11) He’d have escaped death, if he’d hacked his way through one more night, “Mir” 
Kohkan had hacked his way through many hard nights

[koh-kan (another name for Farhad), literally means mountain digger or
cutter. kaa;Tnaa means both ‘cutting’ and ‘passing’ – raat kaa;Tnaa is to ‘pass
the night’ or ‘get through the night’. Hence, the wordplay.]