Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

19th Century

About Mirza Ghalib

Timeline (1797 - 1869)

Mirza Ghalib, Mirza Ghalib poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Jane Hirshfield

Original Language
Urdu

Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise --

Themes

Bliss

Death

Fire

Garden

Silence

Recommended Books

	East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin
	The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell
	Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Translated by Robert Bly
	Mirza Ghalib: A Creative Biography, by Natalia Il'inichna Prigarina
	The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Edited by Ralph Russel

More >>

Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise --
We who dwell in the true ecstasy can forget their vase-tamed bouquet.

In our hall of mirrors, the map of the one Face appears
As the sun's splendor would spangle a world made of dew.

Hidden in this image is also its end,
As peasants' lives harbor revolt and unthreshed corn sparks with fire.

Hidden in my silence are a thousand abandoned longings:
My words the darkened oil lamp on a stranger's unspeaking grave.

Ghalib, the road of change is before you always:
The only line stitching this world's scattered parts.

-- from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell

Amazon.com

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Mirza Ghalib

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World