کبھی کبھی
For some strange reason, I remembered this poem by Urdu poet Amjad Islam Amjad late Saturday night.
کبھی کبھی ان حبس بھری راتوں میں
جب
سب آوازیں سو جاتی ہیں
آدھی نیند کی گھائل سی مدہوشی میں
اک خواب انوکھا جاگتا ہے!
میں دیکھتا ہوں
گرد کی اس چادر سے اُدھر
(جو میرے اُس کے بیچ تنی ہے)
وہ بھی تنہا جاگ رہا ہے۔
My Dad translated it for me and my English speaking friends.
Sometimes in the nights so humid
When all the noises subside
Then in the beaten drunkenness of midnight
A strange dream opens eyes!
I see through this blanket of dust
(That is spread between me and her)
She too is awake alone.
Related Reading:
میں نے تو یہ لکھا تھا
There he is also awake alone
Dad: I changed the “he” to “she” because in Urdu poetry it is customary to use the masculine pronoun for the beloved but that’s not the case in English.
I also dropped the “There” in that last line because of a mistake in my original post of the poem on Facebook.