Faiz Ahmed Faiz > Poetry > Mujh Se Pahlii Sii Muhabbat Merii Mahbuub Na Maang

Sujh Se Pahlii sii Muhabbat Merii Mahbuub na Maang

Do not Ask, my Love, for the Love We Had Before
( English Translation by MAR Habib from The An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry)

mujh se pahlii sii muhabbat merii mahbuub na maaNg

maine samjhaa thaa ke tuu hai to daraKhshaaN hai hayaat
teraa Gham hai to Gham-e-dah'r kaa jhagRaa kyaa hai
terii suurat se hai aalam meN bahaaroN ko sabaat
terii aaNkhoN ke sivaa duniyaa meN rakhaa kyaa hai
tuu jo mil jaaye to taqdiir niguuN ho jaaye
yuuN na thaa maiN ne faqat chaahaa thaa yuuN ho jaaye
aur bhii dukh haiN zamaane meN muhabbat ke sivaa
raahateN aur bhii haiN vasl kii raahat ke sivaa

mujh se pahlii sii muhabbat merii mahbuub na maaNg

anginat sadiyoN ke taariik bahimaanaa talism
resham-o-atlas-o-kam-Khvaab meN bunvaaye hu'e
jaa-ba-jaa bikte hu'e kuuchaa-o-baazaar meN jism
Khaak meN lithaRe hu'e Khuun meN nahlaaye hu'e
lauT jaatii hai udhar ko bhii nazar kyaa kiijiye
ab bhii dil-kash hai teraa husn magar kyaa kiijiye
aur bhii dukh haiN zamaane meN muhabbat ke sivaa
raahateN aur bhii haiN vasl kii raahat ke sivaa

mujh se pahlii sii muhabbat merii mahbuub na maaNg

 

Listen "Mujh se pehlii sii " in Faiz Voice

Listen "Mujh se pehlii sii " sung by Noor Jehan

Do not ask, my love, for the love we had before:

You existed, I told myself, so all existence shone,
Grief for me was you; the world's grief was far.
Spring was ever renewed in your face:
Beyond your eyes, what could the world hold?
Had I won you, Fate's head would hang, defeated.
Yet all this was not so, I merely wished it so.
The world knows sorrows other than those of love,
Pleasures beyond those of romance:

Do not ask, my love, for the love we had before:

The dread dark spell of countless centuries
Woven with silk and satin and gold braocade,
Bodies sold everywhere, in streets and markets,
Besmeared with dirt, bathed in blood,
Crawling from infested ovens,
My gaze returns to these: what can I do?
Your beauty still haunts me: what can I do?
The world is burdened by sorrows beyond love,
By pleasures beyond romance,
Do not demand that love which can be no more.

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