I Desire
I want to have the extremes of your Love,
See, how silly am I, wishing for the unachievable.
I don’t care if you maltreat me or promise to unveil your beauty,
I just want something unbearable to test my fortitude
Let the God fearing people dwell in paradise,
For, instead I want to be face to face with you.
(I don’t want to go to paradise but want to observe the Divine Beauty)
O fellows, I am here for a few moments, as a gust,
Like the morning star I will fade and vanish in a few moments.
I disclosed the secret in public,
I need to be punished for being so rude.
Candle and the Moth
O Candle! Why does the moth love you?
Why is this restless soul devoted to you?
Your charm keeps it restless like mercury
Did you teach it the etiquette of love?
It circumambulates the site of your manifestation
Is it inspired by the fire of your light?
Do the woes of death give it the peace of life?
Does your flame possess the quality of eternal life?
If you do not brighten this sorrowful world
This burning heart’s tree of longing may not turn green
Falling before you is the prayer of this little heart
This little heart knows the taste of impassioned love
It was some zeal of the Primeval beauty’s Lover
You are a small Tur, it is a small Kalim
The moth and the taste of the Sight of the Light!
The small insect and the Longing for the Light!
Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), philosopher and poet, is a great of twentieth-century Indian poetry. Described as ‘The Poet of the East’, he wrote in Urdu and Persian, and produced a string of masterpieces – including Javed Nama (Book of Javed), Bal-e-Jibril (Wings of Jibril), The Secrets of the Self, The Secrets of Selflessness, The Call of the Marching Bells, and Complaint and Answer. Iqbal’s thought was firmly focused on reforming Islam. The allusion to the Mount of Tur is a reference to the story of Prophet Moses and the burning bush.