Let’s adore one another
come on sweetheart let’s adore one another before there is no more of you and me a mirror tells the truth look at your…
spiritual windowshoppers
These spiritual windowshoppers, who idly ask, “How much is that?” “Oh, I’m just looking.” They handle a hundred items and put them down, shadows…
Sahir Ludhianvi’s Taj Mahal
Sahir Ludhianvi’s immortal poem Taj Mahal has always fascinated me. Ipoetry t takes a most unconventional take at this beautiful monument where the poet…
Turn your face toward your own face
The medicine of all intellects is just a picture of Love, the faces of all sweethearts are but His veil. You who are devoted…
Words that come on my tongue – Bulleh Shah
Shahidain has sent this lovely translation of Bulleh Shah’s verse. moonh aaee baat na rehndee ey Words that come on my tongue cannot be…
You have escaped from the city
From these depths depart towards heaven; may your soul be happy, journey joyfully. You have escaped from the city full of fear and trembling;…
Flames from that wine
I saw my Beloved wandering about the house: He had taken up a rebeck and was playing a tune. With a touch like fire…
A call from the unseen
A baby pigeon on the edge of the nest hears the call and begins his flight. How can the soul of the seeker not…
I am that
The marvelous sound That comes from the sky – I am That. The sweet fragrance That comes from the garden – I am That.…
Bulleh, the Beloved is hidden and sits aside
Another poem of Bulleh Shah with a translation KaoN aayaa pehn libaas kuRey tuseeN puchho biThaa ke paas kurey hath khooNDee moDhey kambal kaalaa…
Khowaja Fareed – The Mystical Voice of Southern Punjab
A friend, for the lack of a better term (why are we always hankering after labels and identities for some associations that lie beyond…
Khowaja Fareed – the Sufi voice of Southern Punjab
A special friend, for the lack of a better term (why are we always hankering after labels and idenitities for some associations that lie…
Most poetry ignores most people
Courtesy The NEWS, Pakistan The shadow poet Adrian Mitchell died on December 21, 2008 in London. A prolific poet, novelist and playwright, he was…
Celebrating Eid with Rumi
It’s a habit of yours to walk slowly. You hold a grudge for years. With such heaviness, how can you be modest? With such…
Nayyara singing timeless verses
Meray Derd ko jo Zuban mille Mujhe apna naam o nishan milay Mujhe raaz jo ye pinhan milay mujhe Kainaat ki sarvari Mujhe daulat…
Fahmida Riaz: A neglected genius
Whilst my earlier piece on the IMF programme and the tremendous discussion it has invoked deserves a rejoinder, I want to write on a…
Do not despair, my soul…
Do not despair, my soul, for hope has manifested itself; the hope of every soul has arrived from the unseen. Do not despair, though…
This Love — Quatrain from Rumi
This Love is the king, yet a throne cannot be found. It is the essence of the Koran yet a verse cannot be found.…
Sab Thath pada reh jaye ga…(When the gypsy-headman leaves)
These pithy Urdu verses by Nazeer Akbarabadi lament that all will be abandoned when the Banjara (gypsy), the headman or Naik in the folklore,…
Lal Shahbaz Qalander of Sindh
Source here Shahbaz Qalandar was born in Marwand to a dervish, Syed Ibrahim Kabiruddin whose ancestors migrated from Iraq and settled down in Mashhad,…