My Heart, My Traveler with English Translation

Dil e man Musafir e man

Meray dil meray musafir

hua phir sey hukm sadir

k watan badar hon hum tum

dein gali gali sadain

karein rukh nagar nagar ka

ke suraagh koi paein

kisi yar e nama bar ka

har ik ajnabi sey poochein

jo pata tha apney ghar ka

sar e kooey nashenayan

hamein din sey raat karna

kabhi iss sey baat karna

kabhi us sey baat karna

tumhein kya kahoon key kya hey

shab e gham buri balaa hey

hamein yeh bhi tha ghaneemat

jo koi shumaar hota

hamein kya bura tha marna

agar eik baar hota

English translation:

My heart, my fellow traveler

It has been decreed again

That you and I be exiled,

go calling out in every street,

turn to every town.

To search for a clue

of a messenger from our Beloved.

To ask every stranger

the way back to our home.

In this town of unfamiliar folk

we drudge the day into the night

Talk to this stranger at times,

to that one at others.

How can I convey to you, my friend

how horrible is a night of lonliness *

It would suffice to me

if there were just some count

I would gladly welcome death

if it were to come but once.

Translation by Hamid Rahim Sheikh www.ece.utexas.edu/~sheikh/poetry/faiz(London 1978. Taken from the collection My Heart, My Traveler )* adapted from a couplet by Ghalib