شمع
گوہر کو مشت خاک میں رہنا پسند ہےبندش اگرچہ سست ہے، مضموں بلند ہے
English translation
The pearl likes living in a handful of dust; style may be dull the subject is excellent.
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
About this couplet
This is couplet 23 of 29 in “شمع” (The Candle) in the section Part 1 -- Before 1905, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (بانگِ درا), published in 1924.
Read it in the poem۲۳ / ۲۹