Here, just for pleasure, is Nazir Akbarabadi's mukhammas, barsāt aur phislan , 'The Rainy Season-- and Slipping', with text and translation both. The text is from kulliyāt-e naz̤īr , ed. by Maulana 'Abd ul-Bari Asi (Lahore: Maktabah Shi'r o Adab, 1951, pp. 560-562). A text-only version and a translation-only version are also available.
There are many specific North Indian architectural terms in this poem that would require footnotes (and research) in order to be fully explained. This translation aims mostly to capture the general effect, and the wordplay. There are also some obscenities that the editor has omitted. I have simply shown the omissions, without making any guesses. To change the script display, use the script bar at the bottom of the page.
Stanza 13: There's a proverb, baniye kā beṭā kuchh dekh kar girtā hai . It seems to mean that a merchant's son does everything shrewdly, with a view to some advantage-- even accidental-seeming things like falling down (perhaps he spots a coin on the ground).
(1)
barsāt kā jahān meñ lashkar phisal paṛā
bādal bhī har t̤araf se havā par phisal paṛā
jhaṛyoñ
kā meñh bhī ā ke sarāsar phisal paṛā
chhatta
kisī kā shor machā kar phisal paṛā
koṭhā jhukā
aṭārī girī dar phisal paṛā
the army of the rainy season has slipped into the world
clouds too, from every direction, have slipped over the air
floods of rain too have come and slipped in everywhere
somebody's
covered passage has, with a noise, slipped down,
the lower room is slanting, the upper room has fallen, the door has slipped down
(2)
jin ke naʾe naʾe the makāñ aur maḥal-sarā
un kī chhateñ
ṭapaktī haiñ chhalnī ho jā bah jā
dīvāreñ baiṭhtī haiñ chhaloñ kā hai ġhul machā
lāṭhī ko ṭek kar jo sutūñ hi khaṛā to kyā
chhajjā girā muñḍerī kā patthar phisal paṛā
those who had all-new houses and ladies' quarters
their roofs have become sieves and drip here and there
the walls subside, the
doors groan
if a pillar stands propped by a stick, then so what?
the portico has fallen,
the parapet-stone has slipped down
(3)
jhaṛyoñ ne is t̤araḥ kā diyā ā ke jhaṛ lagā
sunye jidhar udhar ko dhaṛāke kī hai ṣadā
koʾī pukāre hai mirā darvāzah gir chalā
koʾī kahe hai hāʾe kahūñ tum se ab maiñ kyā
tum dar ko jhelte ho mirā ghar phisal paṛā
the rains have come and made such a downpour
that wherever you listen, there's a
thrumming sound
someone calls out, 'my door has fallen and gone!'
someone says, 'alas, now what can I say to you?
you have lost a door, my house has slipped down!'
(4)
bārāñ jab ā ke puḳhtah makāñ ke taʾīñ hilāʾe
kachchā makāñ phir us kī bhalā kyūñkih tāb lāʾe
har jhoñpaṛe meñ shor hai har ghar meñ vāʾe vāʾe
kahte haiñ yāro dauṛiyo jaldī se hāʾe hāʾe
pākhe pachhiyat so gaʾe chappar phisal paṛā
when the rains came, they shook a well-built house
so an unbaked-brick house, well, how would it be able to endure?
in every hut is clamor, in every house 'woe, woe'
they say, 'friends, quick, come running, alas, alas
the shed's back door has gone,
the thatched roof has slipped down'
(5)
ā kar girā jo hai kisī -- -- -- kā ab makāñ
aur us ke āshnā kī bhī chhat girtī hai jahāñ
kahtā hai ṭhaṭṭhe-bāz har ik un se ā ke vāñ
kyā baiṭhe chhat ko rote ho tum ai miyāñ yahāñ
vāñ chhat-lagan kā āp ke sab ghar phisal paṛā
the rains having come, now since the house of some -- -- -- has fallen
and since the roof of his friend too falls down
every joker comes there and says to them
'why do you sit here and weep for the roof, my friend?
there, the whole house of your 'chhat-lagan' has slipped down!'
(6)
yāñ tak har ik makāñ kī phisalne kī hai zamīñ
nikle jo ghar se us ko phisalne kā hai yaqīñ
muflis ġharīb par hī yih mauqūf kuchh nahīñ
kyā fīl kā savār hai kyā pālkī-nishīñ
āyā jo is zamīn ke ūpar phisal paṛā
to such an extent, the ground is one where every single house would slip
whoever would emerge from a house, is convinced of its slipping
this is not at all confined to the poor and helpless
whether it is an elephant-rider, whether it is a palanquin-sitter
whoever came upon this ground, slipped down
(7)
dekho jidhar-tidhar ko yihī ġhul pukār hai
koʾī phañsā hai aur koʾī kīchaṛ meñ ḳhvār hai
pyādah uṭhā jo mar ke to pichhṛā savār hai
girne kī dhūm-dhām yih kuchh be-shumār hai
jo hāthī rapṭā ūñṭ girā ḳhar phisal paṛā
whichever way you look, there's this same tumult and clamor
someone is trapped, someone else
is stuck in the mud
if someone dies and is carried on foot, then
it's his last ride
there's
a turmoil of falling, countless times
where an elephant struggled, a camel fell, a donkey slipped down
(8)
chiknī zamīñ pah yāñ taʾīñ kīchaṛ hai be-shumār
kaisā hī hoshyār pah phisle hai ek bār
naukar kā bas kuchh us meñ nah āqā kā iḳhtiyār
kūchah gali meñ ham ne to dekhā hai kitne bār
āqā jo ḍagmagāʾe to naukar phisal paṛā
on the slithery ground here, there's endless mud
no matter how careful, at some time one slips
neither has a servant any control over this, nor does a master have power
in streets and lanes, how many times we have seen
if the master would
stagger, then the servant would slip down
(9)
kūche meñ koʾī aur koʾī bāzār meñ girā
koʾī galī meñ gir ke hai kīchaṛ meñ loṭtā
raste ke bīch pāʾoñ kisī kā rapaṭ gayā
is sab jagah ke girne se āyā jo bach-bachā
vuh apne ghar ke ṣaḥn meñ ā kar phisal paṛā
someone fell in the street, someone else fell in the bazaar
someone, having fallen in a lane,
writhes in the mud
in the middle of the street, someone's foot slid
he who had escaped this falling all over the place
came into the courtyard of his own house, and slipped down
(10)
daldal jo ho rahī hai har ik jā pah rasmasi
mar-mar uṭhā hai mard to ʿaurat rahī phañsī
kyā saḳht mushkilāt hai kyā saḳht bekasī
us kī baṛī ḳharābī huʾī aur baṛī hañsī
jo apne jā-ẓarūr ke andar phisal paṛā
when a quagmire, in every place, is soaking
when a man would
struggle to rise, then a woman would remain trapped
what harsh difficulty it is, what harsh helplessness
he became greatly ruined, and greatly laughed-at
who in his own 'necessary place', slipped down
(11)
-- -- jo nāchne ko
chalī koʾī ḳhvush-jamāl
-- -- bhī sāth us ke chalā sāz ko sañbhāl
āyā qadam tale jo phisalnī zamīñ kā ḍhāl
-- -- udhar ko ū hī re kar kar girī niḍhāl
-- -- udhar ko āh re kar kar phisal paṛā
when some beautiful one went to dance -- --
-- -- too went with her, taking care of the instrument
when there came beneath their footsteps a slope of slippery ground
-- -- in that direction, going 'uu hii re', she fell in a heap
-- -- in that direction, going 'aah re', he slipped down
(12)
aisī havas meñ -- jo koʾī nuktah-chīn hai
kahtā hai us se -- -- jo ṣuhbat qarīn hai
ū bī yih -- -- yā kih phisalnī zamīn hai
tum ko -- -- ke jāne kā andar yaqīn hai
par maiñ to jāntā hūñ kih bāhar phisal paṛā
in such a lust, -- if there is some nit-picker
who says to her, -- -- when intimacy is near
'oh madam, is this -- -- or is it slippery ground?
I believe that -- -- would go inside you
but I consider that outside, it would slip down'
(13)
ʿāqil jo -- -- bāz kahātā hai ab baṛā
-- -- jahāñ girī to vuhīñ āp bhī girā
jo tāṛ-bāz the so pukāre yih jā bah jā
yāro yih jā-e ġhor hai ṭuk dekhiyo żarā
banye kā beṭā kuchh to samajh kar phisal paṛā
the learned man who now is called a big -- -- -player
-- -- where the world fell, then right there he too fell
those who were
sharp-witted, here and there they call out
friends, this is an occasion for reflection, just take a bit of a look
the Baniya's son, having had a thought, slipped down
(14)
aur jis kisī ke dil ko hai laṛkoñ ke tan kī chāh
niklā vuh sāth laṛke ke kīchaṛ meñ ho tabāh
ulfat kī apnī chāh jatāne ko ḳhvāh-maḳhvāh
lauñḍā girā jo āge to pīchhe se yih bhī āh
be-iḳhtiyār us ke barābar phisal paṛā
and whoever has in his heart a desire for boys' bodies
if he emerged along with a boy, would be destroyed in the mud
in order to pursue his desire for love, willy-nilly
if the lad fell ahead of him, then behind he too, ah
helplessly like him slipped down
(15)
kartī hai garchih sab ko phisalnī zamīn ḳhvār
ʿāshiq ko par dikhāʾī hai kuchh aur hī bahār
āyā jo sāmne koʾī maḥbūb-e gul-ʿażār
girne kā makkar kar ke uchhal kūd ek bār
us shoḳh gul-badan se lipaṭ kar phisal paṛā
although the slippery ground brings everyone low
still to the lover it has shown a different kind of 'springtime'
if there came before him some
rose-resembling beloved
creating the trick-effect of falling, he leaped up at once
embracing that mischievous rose-body, he slipped down
(16)
kīchaṛ se har makāñ kī to bachtā bahut phirā
par jab dikhāʾī dī khule bāloñ kī ik ghaṭā
bijlī bhī chamkī ḥusn kī meñh barsā nāz kā
phislan jab aisī āʾī to phir kuchh nah bas chalā
āḳhir ko vāñ naz̤īr bhī ā kar phisal paṛā
he wandered a great deal, avoiding the mud of every house
but when there was visible a cloud of loosened hair
the lightning of beauty flashed too,
the rain of coquetry poured down
when such a slippage came, then he had no more control
finally, there, Nazir too came and slipped down