मर्सिया-ए-देहली-ए-मरहूम | The Devastation of Delhi: A Lament by Khwaja Altaf Husain 'Hali'

The Devastation of Delhi: A Lament
Khwaja Altaf Husain 'Hali' (1837-1914)
Heartfelt thanks to Sumaira Nawaz for her recitation.
Dear friend, I beseech you, speak not of the Delhi that is no more,
I cannot bear to listen to the sad story of this city.
O nightingale, I implore you, sing not a song of autumn.
While we laugh and talk, how can we mourn with you?
O minstrel, at such a time, when my heart craves pleasure,
Do not begin a heart-piercing ghazal.
O master-painter, do not open before us an album of paintings,
It will only remind us of the mush'aras of the past.
O my heart, take care, do not make me weep like a heavy cloud,
The ocean of blood is throbbing in my veins.
O adventurer, your heart will be seared with pain and grief.
Hearken to me, do not go into the ruins of Delhi.
At every step, priceless pearls lie buried beneath the dust,
No place in the world is so rich with hidden treasure.
Even the traces of what reminded us of the city's destruction are gone,
Dear heaven, can there be greater oblivion than that?
Those who are gone have forgotten us. We too have ceased to think of them.
Times have changed us as they can never change again.
Can you point to any family which does not bear scars?
Dear heaven, that made us weep, cease, I beseech you,
But do not let strangers mock us.
If they were to know our plight, not only friends
But the whole world would pity us.
O cup-bearer, who passes the last round of wine.
Do not fill it to the brim, and let no thirst be fully quenched.
For now their long spell of good fortune lies asleep.
Do not awake them, O wheel of time, they are deep in slumber.
O mirth and joy, hasten hence, Delhi is no place for you any more,
Yes, once Delhi was the centre of art and science.
But the art of poetry is dead, never to be born again.
Do not grieve for the glories of the past.
'Ghalib', 'Shefta', 'Nayyar', 'Azurda' and 'Zauq' will never come again.
After 'Momin', 'Alavi' and 'Sehbai', who is left to speak of the art of poetry?
The light of their greatness also shone on us who were not great.
Listen to the poetry of 'Dagh' and 'Majruh', for after them
No nightingale will warble in this rose-garden.
Those mush'aras of the past are no more.
And it is unseemly that I should grieve others with my own lament.
(English rendering by Dr. Yunus Jaffery)
Note: This marsiya was recited by Hali at a mush'ara in Lahore in 1874. Dagh and Majruh were among the last survivors of the nineteenth century Delhi poets. Majruh lived till 1902 and Dagh till 1905.
Page spread from Narayani Gupta, "Delhi between Two Empires, 1803-1931: Society, Government and Urban Growth." Oxford University Press, 1981.

[@geneliariteish8905]

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[@a.sharon4238]

Many thanks. So much more to explore at the Star of Mysore repository!