عا شق ہر جائی

در بیابان طلب پیوستہ می کوشیم ماموج بحریم و شکست خویش بر دوشیم ما

English translation

I am constantly struggling in the Longing's wilderness; I am the ocean's wave, I carry my destruction on my shoulder.
(This is an extremely beautiful metaphor. The ocean waves harbour their destruction in their existence, which occurs when they reach the shore. Similarly, my creation and existence as a human being harbour the potential for my destruction on reaching the life's end.)

Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil

Word meanings

میں تو تلاش و جستجو کے صحرا میں مسلسل جد و جہد میں مصروف ہوں اور سمندر کی موجوں کی طرح اپنی شکست کا سامان خود اپنے کندھوں پر اٹھائے پھرتا ہوں۔

About this couplet

This is couplet 25 of 25 in “⁨عا شق ہر جائی⁩” (The Unfaithful Lover) in the section Poems of Period 1905-08, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (⁨بانگِ درا⁩), published in 1924.

Read it in the poem

۲۵ / ۲۵