Muddat hui hai yaar ko mehmaan kiye hue

An age has passed since my love graced this place, Since wine's own fire has set the room ablaze.

Again I gather the pieces of my heart, Long since my lashes have prepared for pain.

Again this caution suffocates my breath, It has been years since passion made its claim.

My breath once more is hot with burning sighs, Long since I’ve walked among such fields of flame.

And Love returns to ask about my wounds, With countless jars of stinging salt arrayed.

My lashes dip again in my heart's blood, To paint a garden on my garment's train.

My heart and eyes are rivals once again, One armed with vision, one with memory's reign.

My heart returns to walk the lane of shame, The idol-house of pride a shattered fane.

Desire returns, and seeks a buyer's gaze, With mind and heart and soul put up for gain.

My thoughts now race to every rose in sight, A hundred gardens blooming in my brain.

I long to open my beloved's note, My soul already captive to its chain.

Desire again demands her on the roof, Her dark hair scattered like a stormy rain.

And longing seeks its rival face to face, Her lashes sharpened, daggers dark with stain.

My gaze again seeks out that fresh new bloom, Her face a garden, flushed by wine's campaign.

My soul desires to lie before a door, My head bowed low beneath the guard's disdain.

My heart again seeks out that idle space, To sit all day and think of her in vain.

Don't trouble Ghalib, friend, for with these tears I sit preparing for a hurricane.