Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. nazir akbarabadi (1735-1830) was a contemporary of mir taqi mir (1722-1810) and was a prolific shaa’er over his long life time writing acclaimed Ghazals of high quality in chaste urdu and classical style of the period. But he was also a “people’s poet” writing nazm in everyday conversational language about subjects of daily life – divali, holi, eid, rain, roTi, rupiya as well as paeans to mohammed and to krishn. This is one of his classical sufiyaana Ghazal about the illusion of the material world versus the spiritual world.
1
bahr¹-e hasti² meN sohbat³-e ahbab⁴
yuN hai jaise ba-roo⁵-e aab⁶ habab⁷   1.ocean 2.existence 3.company 4.friends 5.on the face/surface of 6.water 7.bubbles
Everything in this world is transient. In the ocean of existence, the company of friends is like bubbles on the surface of water. They are here one moment, and the next the bubble bursts and is gone.
2
gardish¹-e asmaaN meN hum kya haiN
par²-e kaah³ hai miyana⁴-e gardab⁵   1.movement, rotation 2.feather/wisp 3.straw 4.middle 5.whirlpool
What are we under the rotating/turning sky – a mere feather/wisp of straw in the middle of a whirlpool.
3
baada¹-e naab² kya hai Khoon-e jigar³
zardi⁴-e raNg hai shab⁵-e mahtab⁶   1.wine 2.strong, pure 3.liver 4.yellow, glowing 5.evening of 6.full moon
Strong wine is but like the blood of liver. Here it probably means that you enjoy it now and the later consequence is a bleeding liver/heart. The glow on your face is but the glow of the moon – it will fade like the phases of the moon.
4
jis ko raqs-o-surood¹ kahte hain
vo bhi hai ek hawa-e Khaana-Kharaab²   1.dance and music 2.home destroying
That which we call song and dance (celebration) is nothing but a way of destroying the home.
5
umr¹ kahte haiN jis ko vo kya hai
misl²-e tahrir³ mauj⁴-e naqsh-bar-aab⁵   1.life (duration of life) 2.like, in the example of 3.writing 4.wave 5.sketch on water
That which we call our life-span, is like writing/making a sketch on waves of water (it will erased in a moment).
6
jism¹ kya rooh² ki hai jaula-nigah³
rooh kya ek sawaar⁴-e pa-ba-rikab⁵    1.body 2.spirit, soul 3.field of military exercises, field of horse training – used here to mean struggle 4.rider 5.feet in stirrups
The body is but a field of struggle of the soul. The soul is the rider (on the horse) with feet in stirrups (on the move).
7
husn¹ aur ishq² kya haiN ye bhi haiN
Khatfa³-e barq⁴ o qatra⁵-e seemaab⁶   1.beauty (of the beloved) 2.love (of the poet/lover) 3.flash 4.lightning 5.drop 6.mercury
Beauty fades quickly. It is but a flash of lightning … displaying its glory and then suddenly gone. Love is like a drop of mercury … not constant, moving around.
8
zindagaani¹ o marg² bhi kya haiN
ek misl³-e Khayaal⁴ o diigar⁵-e Khwaab⁶   1.life 2.death 3.liker, in the example of 4.thought, imagination, illusion 5.second, repeat 6.sleep
What is life but like an illusion and death like a repeating/continuous sleep.
9
fursat¹-e umr² qatra³-e shabnam⁴
vasl⁵-e mahbub⁶ gauhar⁷-e nayaab⁸   1.leisure, permission 2.life 3.drop 4.dew 5.union 6.beloved 8.unobtainable
Permission to live is like a dew drop, it evaporates rapidly. Union with the beloved (happiness) is like an unobtainable pearl.
10
kyuN na ishrat¹ do-chand² ho, jo hai
yaar³ mah-chehra⁴ aur shab⁵-e mahtab⁶   1.joy, happiness 2.double 3.friend, beloved 4.moon-faced 5.evening/night 6.full moon
There is sudden change in mood in this she’r. Why should not my happiness be doubled. My beloved is beautiful like the moon and night is moonlit.

11

sab kitaabauN ke khul gae maa’ni¹
jab se dekhi nazir dil ki kitaab  1.meaning
The meaning of all books became clear, when nazir looked into the book of his heart.