لائوں وہ تنکے کہیں سے آشیانے کے لیے
وائے ناکامی، فلک نے تاک کر توڑا اسےمیں نے جس ڈالی کو تاڑا آشیانے کے لیے
English translation
Alas! O despair! The sky broke it down intently; whichever branch I selected for my nest.
(Under the influence of Greek cosmology the sky was considered to control human destiny throughout the ancient world. In particular it was believed to bring ill luck. Though this belief no longer exists the expression still continues in Urdu and Persian literature.)
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
About this couplet
This is couplet 2 of 7 in “لائوں وہ تنکے کہیں سے آشیانے کے لیے” (Laaoon woh tinkay kahin se aashiyanay ke liye) in the section The Ghazals 1, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (بانگِ درا), published in 1924.
Read it in the poem۲ / ۷