S. R. Faruqi:

(1) There's no way I could tell you what love is.
It's a disease of the soul, a calamitous, destructive thing.

(2) Wherever you look there's love, nothing but love.
The whole world is packed full with love.

(3) All praise for the modes and manners of love!
A slave somewhere, and somewhere else the Lord.

(4) Love is the beloved, love the lover too.
That is to say, love is crazy for its own self.

(5) Even if you proved that the worship of God is love,
no matter, love is desirable, whatever the form.

(6) Was there ever a mortal foe so heart-trapping?
It is the enemy but also the object and purpose of our being.

(7) Does anyone love the way I love,
anyone who ever loved anywhere at all?

(8) There are no takers for it.
It's as if love were merchandise whose expiration date is past.

(9) You there, dear Mir! You grow paler day by day.
Have you fallen in love with someone?

 

FWP:

(inspired by SRF's translation)

(1) How can I tell you what it is, passion!
It's a mortal illness, a disaster, passion!

(2) Wherever you look, you see passion and more passion--
It's filling the whole world, passion!

(3) Praise be to the manners and modes of passion!
Somewhere it's a servant, somewhere it's a lord, passion.

(4) Passion is the lover, passion is the beloved.
That is, it's engulfed in itself, passion.

(5) If you establish it as the worship of the Lord,
in any form at all it's desirable, passion.

(6) Where else is there such a charming mortal enemy?
It's a claimant, but the claim is-- passion.

(7) Is there any lover at all like me,
who has ever, anywhere, known such passion?

(8) There are no takers for love--
You'd think it was past its sell-by date, passion.

(9) Mir, you're growing paler every day.
Have you too somehow become enmeshed in passion?

 

Zahra Sabri:

Zahra Sabri is a special guest translator for this site.

(1) How should I tell you what is passion!
A mortal malady, a calamity is passion!

(2) Passion is apparent everywhere we look
The entire world is filling up with passion!

(3) Passion is apparent everywhere we look
The entire world is filling up with passion!

(4) Passion is the beloved, and passion the lover
Meaning that it's head-over-heels its own self – passion!

(5) If it proves that God is the object of worship
Whatever form it may be in, approved is passion!

(6) Where else is there a mortal foe so enticing?
Passion is the claimant, but the claim is passion!

(7) Has anyone practised passion in the same manner as I?
From among all those who have practised passion!

(8) There are no desirers of love
It would seem an unsaleable commodity – passion

(9) My dear “Mir”, every day you grow more and more wan
What to say – have you, too, practised passion?