Kumaoni song by Seema Uniyal Mishra written by Girda

A Poem of Leeladhar Jagoodi (in Translation)

A Poem of Leeladhar Jagoodi
(Translated from Hindi) -

Identity ~

From the garbage of yesterday
emerges today

pits that were dug, saplings that were planted,
now their row has come up
bricks were laid on the road
the drain was cleaned
the house white-washed
each item was arranged properly
everybody took a bath
ate desired food,
wore hand-washed ironed clothes

Wherever I see, I find
works all done by themselves

O God, You can labour
You can improve things
my salutations to Thee !!
...

Ghalib : Ghazal 6~

(Phir mujhe deedah-e-tar yaad aayaa)

Those moist eyes have come to my mind once again;
My heart and liver thirst for a lament again.

Doomsday has yet to halt to take a breath,
Though the moment of your journey is here again.

I would have surely passed my life anyhow,
Why has your street crossed my mind again?

The gatekeeper of Paradise would have quarreled,
Had I thought of your abode there again.

What is this wilderness before my wilderness?
I imagine my house in a forest again.

Whene'er my boyhood aimed a stone at Majnu, Asad,
I remembered my own head again and again!
____________
(First published in e-journal Kritya)
...

Ghalib : Ghazal 5~

(Muddat hui hai yaar ko mehmaan kiye huve)

An age has passed since I hosted my Beloved,
When our evenings were lit up with cups of wine.

My breath is hot again with fiery complaints,
It's long since we saw the fireworks shine.

The heart and the eyes- arch rivals though,
Together for Beloved's sight they now pine.

Again I wish my Love's on her balcony,
With dark tresses blowing on her face fine.

The heart again seeks those days and nights of leisure,
When in thoughts I would with my Beloved entwine.

Ghalib, don't provoke me, for I'm ready again
With my turbulent tears, to let a stormy rain !
_______________
(First published in the ejournal Muse India)
...

Ghalib : Ghazal 4~

(Hairaan hoon dil ko rovoon ki peetoon jigar ko main)

Should I cry my heart out, or beat my chest - I am confused
I f I could, to mourn for me a servant sure I would've used

It's envy that prevents me from identifying your abode;
Rather, I've been asking all to point to me the right road

My rival's door a thousand times I've been compelled to go;
How much I wish that the way to your alley I didn't know

Some miles every swift walker, I match stride for stride,
But I've not yet found a person who can be my guide

In sheer absentmindedness, I've lost my Beloved's lane,
Otherwise, I would have indeed discovered myself again!
_____
(First published in the ejournal Muse India)
...

Ghalib : Ghazal 3 ~

(Vo firaaq aur vo visaal kahaan)

Where are those meetings and those partings now?
Where are those days and nights, months and years now?

Who has time to fall in love nowadays,
Where's delight in gazing at the Beauty now?

That heart is gone, that mind is no more too,
Where is imagination's revelry now?

The tears of blood are hard to weep,
Where's the strength in heart and liver now?

Love's gambling house is out of reach,
Where are pennies in my pocket now?

I'm troubled by the concerns of the world,
Where do I fit into this pell-mell now?

All the powers, Ghalib, I've lost,
Where is in my elements harmony now?
...

Ghalib : Ghazal 2 ~

(Arze niyaaz-e-ishq ke kaabil nahi rahaa)

Love entreaties I can't make any more;
The heart I was once proud of, is no more.

I walk out stained with my own desires,
A lamp extinguished I am, fit for mehfil no more.

Think of some other way to court Death, O heart,
I won't die at the hands of my Beloved any more.

No hope I have to cultivate the field of love,
Barring a wish, nothing remains now any more.

Love's tyranny I do not fear Asad,
But the heart I was proud of, is no more.
...