lalahesahrai

lālah-e ṣaḥrā

Published in bāl-e jibrīl (The Wing of Gabriel) (1935).
From: kulliyāt-e iqbāl urdū (Lahore: Shaikh Ghulam 'Ali and Sons Publishers, 1973 (and later reprints), *pp. 413-14*

a *ghazal*; *meter*: = = - / - = = = // = = - / - = = =

Urdu spellings reflect adjustments made for the sake of the meter.
See the 'script bar' at the bottom of the page for viewing choices.
Here's *a serial glossary*.


1)	yih guñbad-e mīnāʾī ! yih ʿālam-e tanhāʾī ! mujko to ḍarātī hai is dasht kī pahnāʾī !
	1) this dome of azure! this state/world of solitude! 2) it frightens me, the breadth/expanse of this desert!
	= Writing muj instead of mujh in combinations like this is an occasional mannerism in Urdu; Iqbal does it again in the final verse.

2)	bhaṭkā huʾā rāhī maiñ , bhaṭkā huʾā rāhī tū ! manzil hai kahāñ terī ay lālah-e ṣaḥrāʾī ?
	1) I am a traveler who has lost the way, you are a traveler who has lost the way 2) where is your destination, oh desert tulip?
	= A 'having-wandered-away traveler" is one of those things you can say so elegantly in Urdu, and not at all in English.

3)	ḳhālī hai kalīmoñ se yih koh-o-kamar varnah tū shuʿlah-e sīnāʾī , maiñ shuʿlah-e sīnāʾī !
	1) this mountain and foothills are empty of speakers-- otherwise 2) you are a flame of Sinai, I am a flame of Sinai!
	= The reference is to Moses's encounter with God, through the burning bush (Qur'an 7:143).

4)	tū shāḳh se kyūñ phūṭā , maiñ shāḳh se kyūñ ṭūṭā ik jażbah-e paidāʾī ! ik lażżat-e yaktāʾī !
	1) why did you burst into bloom from the branch, why did I break from the branch? 2) a single emotion of birth/creation! a single relish of uniqueness!


5)	ġhavvāṣ-e muḥabbat kā allâh nigah-bāñ ho har qat̤rah-e daryā meñ , daryā kī hai gahrāʾī !
	1) may God be the guardian of the diver of love 2) in every drop of the ocean, is the depth of the ocean


6)	us mauj ke mātam meñ rotī hai bhañvar kī āñkh daryā se uṭhī , lekin sāḥil se nah ṭakrāʾī !
	1) the eye of the whirlpool weeps in mourning for that wave 2) [that] arose from the ocean, but didn't collide with the shore!


7)	hai garmī-e ādam se hangāmah-e ʿālam garm sūraj bhī tamāshāʾī , tāre bhī tamāshāʾī !
	1) from the heat/fervor of Adam, the commotion/tumult of the world is hot/fervent 2) the sun too is a spectator, the stars too are spectators !


8)	ay bād-e biyābānī mujko bhī ʿināyat ho ḳhāmoshī-o-dil-sozī , sarmastī-o-raʿnāʾī !
	1) oh desert wind, may there be vouchsafed to me too 2) silence and heart-burningness, intoxication and gracefulness!

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