January 17, 2018

मुझ से पहली सी मोहब्बत मेरे मेहबूब न मांग [Translation]

Attempting a translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's iconic "मुझ से पहली सी मोहब्बत मेरे मेहबूब न मांग". You can read his original (transliterated in English) here.

Don't ask me to love as I used to, my love
I thought it was you who illuminated life
No sorrows of the world were greater than your sorrows
Your face gave the world its spring
Nothing worthy in this world, but for your eyes
If you were mine, fate would wither away
I wished it be so but it isn't that way
There are miseries, in these times, other than love
There are other pleasures to have beyond making love


Innumerable dreadful spells of centuries,
wrapped in satin and silk
Bodies put up for sale, everywhere, streets and markets,
battered in dust, bathed in blood


Bodies baked in diseased furnaces,
puss oozing from melting wounds
My gaze returns to those sights, what do I do,
but am still allured by your beauty, what do I do

There are miseries, in these times, other than love
There are other pleasures to have beyond making love
Don't ask me to love as I used to, my love
 

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