Ajab nishaat se jallad ke chale hain hum aage

With what strange joy I walk to meet the headsman's tread, ahead, My shadow left behind, my head is two full steps ahead.

Fate wished to write me "ruined by love's intoxicating dread," But only wrote "the ruined one"; its pen moved not ahead.

The world's own grief has sobered love's ecstatic, wine-soaked thread, Or else I would have savored all the pain that lay ahead.

For God's sake, praise this madness that has filled my heart and head; I reach her door before the messenger is even led ahead.

This lifetime full of troubles that I've carried, filled with dread, Was all for you, O tangled curls, that beckon me ahead.

This wave of blood that surges, fluttering where my heart has bled, In my conceit, I thought it was life's breath that flowed ahead.

They swear to join my funeral now, Ghalib, on my final bed, The very ones who swore upon my life, and looked ahead.