Rang Hai Dil Ka Mere // Faiz Ahmad Faiz

tum na aaye the toh har ik cheez wahi thi ki jo hai
aasmaan hadd-e-nazar, raahguzar- raahguzar, sheesha-e-mai- sheesha-e-mai

aur ab sheesha-e-mai, raahguzar, rang-e-falak
rang hai dil ka mere, khoon-e-jigar hone tak
champaai rang kabhi, raahat-e-deedaar ka rang
surmayi rang ki hai sa’at-e-bezaar ka rang
zard patton ka, khas-o-khaar ka rang
surkh phoolon ka, dehekte hue gulzaar ka rang
zehar ka rang, lahu rang, shab-e-taar ka rang
aasmaan, raahguzar, sheesha-e-mai
koi bheegaa hua daaman, koi dukhti hui rag
koi har lehzaa badaltaa hua aaina hai

ab jo aaye ho toh thehro ki koi rang, koi rut, koi shai
ek jagah par thehre
phir ik baar har ik cheez wahi ho ki jo hai
aasmaan hadd-e-nazar, raahguzar-raahguzar, sheesha-e-mai- sheesha-e-mai

Moscow
August 1963

//

Before you came things were just what they were:
the road precisely a road, the horizon fixed,
the limit of what could be seen,
a glass of wine was no more than a glass of wine.

With you the world took on the spectrum
radiating from my heart: your eyes gold
as they open to me, slate the color
that falls each time I lost all hope.

With your advent roses burst into flame:
you were the artist of dried-up leaves, sorceress
who flicked her wrist to change dust into soot.
You lacquered the night black.

As for the sky, the road, the cup of wine:
one was my tear-drenched shirt,
the other an aching nerve,
the third a mirror that never reflected the same thing.

Now you are here again—stay with me.
This time things will fall into place;
the road can be the road,
the sky nothing but sky;
the glass of wine, as it should be, the glass of wine.

(Translation by Agha Shahid Ali)