شمع
صیاد آپ، حلقہ دام ستم بھی آپبام حرم بھی، طائر بام حرم بھی آپ!
English translation
I am the hunter as well as the circle of tyranny’s net! I am the Haram’s roof as well as the bird on Haram’s roof.*
* Allusion to Man being the center and, in fact, the very purpose of creation of the universe.)
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
Word meanings
طائر بام: چھت پر بیٹھا پرندہ۔
About this couplet
This is couplet 27 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 poem۲۷ / ۲۹