تو گوئی طایر ما زیر دام است
English title: You say that we are like birds in a snare
تو گوئی طایر ما زیر دام استپریدن بر پر و بالش حرام است
You say our bird (soul) is beneath a bodily snare confined —
Its wings are such that flight it cannot find.
تو کہتا ہے کہ ہمارا پرندہ (روح) جال کے نیچے ہے —
اس کے پر و بال کے لیے پرواز نا ممکن ہے۔
ز تن بر جستہ تر شد معنی جانفسان خنجر ما از نیام است
Yet through the flesh, the soul's essence does soar —
The body, a scabbard, sharpens the soul’s dagger more.
روح کی معنویّت تن کی وجہ سے بلند تر ہو گئی ہے —
ہمارا نیام (بدن) ہمارے خنجر (روح) کے لیے سان کا کام کرتا ہے، (عمل بدن کرتا ہے اور ارتقا روح کو حاصل ہوتا ہے )۔
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Payam-e-Mashriq — تو گوئی طایر ما زیر دام است — 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: Payam-e-Mashriq — 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
- payam-e-mashriq: published English translation by مخدوم حسان — Published digital poem page (w09xpr91.json); retrieved 2026-10-05.Translation by مخدوم حسان; Published English translation credited on the Zinderood digital poem page; the exact source unit is recorded with each imported passage.Source
- payam-e-mashriq: published Urdu translation by مخدوم حسان — Published digital poem page (w09xpr91.json); retrieved 2026-10-05.Translation by مخدوم حسان; Published Urdu translation credited on the Zinderood digital poem page; the exact source unit is recorded with each imported passage.Source