انسان
English title: MANKIND
What an ingenious tyranny of Nature it is! Man has been made a seeker of the Secret; The Secret has been concealed from his eyes.
The taste for awareness is restless; the secret of life is not un raveled.
Amazing is the alpha and omega of life*: What else is there in the mirror's house?
The river stream is moving fast; the river is moving towards the ocean.
The wind is blowing the cloud: Is bringing the cloud on its shoulders.
Stars are intoxicated with destiny's wine; they are chained in the prison of the sky.
The sun, that early rising devotee, that carrier of the message of ‘rise’!
Concealed in the hills of the west is drinking wine in twilight's goblet.
Everything is enjoying its existence; it is intoxicated with manifestation's wine.
کیا تلخ ہے روزگار انساں!
None is sympathetic with Man! How bitter is the life of Man!
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bang-e-Dara — انسان — 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
- Original digital source for restored final line in انسان — Pinned repository content, commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056; source group 3689.Verified against this pinned digital transcription file; not checked against a print edition.Source
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at allama-iqbal.com — Mankind — 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
- 001_079: published English translation, source group 3689 — Pinned digital poem content, repository commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056; source group 3689.Translation by Dr M.A.K. Khalil; Published English verse text retained from the reviewed source group.Source
- Source group 3689, final standalone line after 001_079_010.Edition evidence