عا شق ہر جائي
English title: THE UNFAITHFUL LOVER
(1)
O Iqbal! You are a strange mixture of opposites; you are the elegance of assembly’s crowd as well as alone.
O lunatic with colorful song! Your struggles and efforts are the garden’s beauty as well as wilderness’ adornment.
You are the associate of stars due to your flight’s elegance: O land traveler your steps also traverse the sky.
Your forehead is in prostration in the midst of preoccupation with wine; in your system are some colours of the system of goblets also.
Like flower’s fragrance you are devoid of colour’s dress; though you are a creator of wisdom you are also insane.
Like waves you are running to the destination without foot-prints; and then you are also left behind like the sea-shore.
Female beauty has the effect of electricity for your nature; and strangely enough your loves are unconventional also.
Your existence depends on the amusement’s law: Are you prostrating only at a single door step?
Among the beautiful you are famous for infidelity O fickle-minded! You are famous as well as infamous.
You have come into the world with mercury’s nature; your restlessness is lovable, you are very restless.
(2)
What the disturbance of love has turned into wilderness; I keep that handful of dust concealed under the cloak.
It has thousands of facets, each of a different colour; I keep such a multi-faceted diamond in my breast.
The poet’s heart is but intoxication’s toil and hustle: What do you know, what I keep inside my breast!
In every intoxication of Love there is a new effulgence of Longing; I am restless, I have a heart unacquainted with rest.
Though a new beauty every moment is the sight’s object, I have a firm covenant of fidelity with the Beauty.
Beniazi has created my nature’s Niaz; I keep the struggle for the Longing like the zephyr.
The spectacle of a single flying spark cannot be assuasive as I have a thunderous heart.
What may fulfill every demand of the nature of Love Ah! Attainment of that perfect effulgence is my aim.
The search for the Whole misguides me into its parts. The Beauty is boundless, I have the incurable pathos.
My life depends upon Love's extreme compassion, but I keep the Love free of customs of fidelity.
The truth is that lack of imagination produces fidelity;* I have a new Resurrection Day ever fresh in my heart.
Cup bearer's bounty is like dew, heart's capacity demands oceans I am always thirsty, I have a burning fire under my foot
By creating me He created His own critic As a picture, I have complaint against my Painter
If the Beauty was so short lived in existence' assembly Why then do I keep such a boundless imagination?
I am constantly struggling in the Longing's wilderness; I am the ocean's wave, I carry my destruction on my shoulder.
میں تو تلاش و جستجو کے صحرا میں مسلسل جد و جہد میں مصروف ہوں اور سمندر کی موجوں کی طرح اپنی شکست کا سامان خود اپنے کندھوں پر اٹھائے پھرتا ہوں۔
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bang-e-Dara — عا شق ہر جائي — 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
- Reviewed exact Persian line-language classifications for the digital Urdu collectionsSource
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at allama-iqbal.com — The Unfaithful Lover — 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
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at International Iqbal Society — The Unfaithful Lover — Public English translation article, cached 2026-10-05; source HTML and extracted article text are pinned by SHA-256.Translation by Dr M. A. K. Khalil; English Translation by: Dr M. A. K. Khalil; published by International Iqbal Society.Source
- Bang-e-Dara: published Urdu field at allama-iqbal.com — Public poem data pinned to allama-iqbal.com repository commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056; source path allama-iqbal-com-content/bang-e-dara/2a/13.json.Translation by Not separately identified; The published Urdu field does not separately identify its translator. No English translator credit is reused.Source
