کبھي اے حقيقت منتظر نظر لباس مجاز ميں
English title: O THE MUCH SOUGHT AFTER REALITY! SOME TIME APPEAR IN MATERIAL FORM
O the much sought after Reality! Some time appear in material form, as innumerable prostrations restless in my humble forehead are.
Join the assembly’s celebrations, You are a song, be heard! What good are melodies which veiled in guitar’s frets are!
Do not jealously protect them; your mirrors are the mirrors, which would be dearer in the Maker’s eye if they broken are.
During circumambulation the moth exclaimed, ‘Those past effects neither in your story of pathos, nor in my tale of love are’.
My wretched sins could not get shelter anywhere except when they in the shade of Thy Gracious Forgiveness were.
Neither Love has that warmth nor Beauty has that humour! Neither that restlessness in Ghaznavi nor those curls in the hair locks of Ayaz are.
Whenever I went into prostration a voice came from the earth: Your heart is in materialism no rewards for your prayers are.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bang-e-Dara — کبھي اے حقيقت منتظر نظر لباس مجاز ميں — 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
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at allama-iqbal.com — — 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
