جگنو
English title: THE FIRE-FLY
The fire-fly's light is shining in the garden's abode; or a candle is lighted in the assembly of flowers?
Has some star flown down from the sky? Or has a moon's ray been brought to life?
Or the emissary of the day has come to the night's kingdom? Has become prosperous in foreign land was unknown in homeland?
Has some button fallen from the cloak of the moon? Or some speck has become prominent in the sun's shirt?
Was it the concealed glimpse of the Eternal Beauty, which was brought by Nature out of solitude into the assembly?
Darkness as well as light is in this little moon; now it is out of eclipse, now it is in eclipse.
The moth is an insect, as the fire-fly is an insect; the former needs light, the latter is light's embodiment.
Nature gave beauty to everything in the universe. It gave agitation to moth; it gave light to fire-fly.
It gave flowery music to the speechless bird. Having given tongue to the rose* taught it to be silent.
The beauty of twilight's spectacle was decaying; brightening up this fairy, a short life it gave.
It gave colour to the dawn like a beautiful bride; clothing it in red dress gave it the mirror of dew.
It gave shade to the tree, gave flight to the wind. It gave flow to water, gave restlessness to waves.
This distinction but is a way of our thinking; the fire-fly's day is the same as our night.
The Eternal Beauty's reflection is present in everything. It is speech in man. It is blooming in the flower bud.
This moon in the sky is the poet's heart so to say. It is moonlight there what here the prick of pathos is.
The manners of speech have deceived us, otherwise song is nightingale's fragrance; flower's fragrance is its song.
Concealed in plurality is the secret of the Unity. What is fire-fly’s brightness is flower’s fragrance.
Why should this difference be occasion for dissensions? When the Primeval Day’s silence be concealed in everything.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bang-e-Dara — جگنو — Digital transcription file at commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; the source dataset does not identify the underlying print edition.Verified against this pinned digital transcription file; not checked against a print edition.Source
- Iqbal Demystified source list: Bang-e-Dara — Pinned digital dataset commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; the underlying print edition is not identified by the dataset.Community dataset list; not reconciled against a print edition.Source
- Pinned digital source list 001 (Bang-e-Dara section headings) — Pinned repository commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; digital transcription, not a selected print edition.Verified against this pinned digital transcription file; not checked against a print edition.Source
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at allama-iqbal.com — The Fire-Fly — Public digital poem page, retrieved 2026-10-05; pinned to allama-iqbal.com commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056.Translation by Dr M.A.K. Khalil; English Translation by: Dr M.A.K. KhalilSource