Ghazal 26

It’s been a while since I’ve had a lover
a while since evenings were lightened by drinking

Again I am breathing in anger exhaling sparks
a long way from illumination

The heart hates what the eye tells it in all but love
where the beloved is seen as clearly as dreamed

Her balcony is empty I’m caged in memory
where in wind her hair veils her careless face

I miss the days and nights of nothing as before
when I would think of nothing and nothing else but her

Mirza Ghalib (1796 – 1869)
trans. Jim Yagmin (born 1977?)