Allama Iqbal's Poetry
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The Call of the Caravan Bell

Content

The Himalayas
The Colourful Rose
The Age of Infancy
Mirza Ghalib
The Cloud on the Mountain
A Spider and a Fly
A Mountain and a Squirrel
A Cow and a Goat
The Child’s Invocation
Sympathy
A Mother’s Dream
The Bird’s Complaint
The Interrogation of the Dead
Moth and Candle
Reason And Heart
The Painful Wail
The Sun (Translated from Gautier)
The Candle
A Longing
The Morning Sun
Pathos of Love
A Withered Rose
The Tombstone of Sayyid
The New Moon
Man and Nature
The Message of Dawn
Love and Death
Virtue and Vice
The Poet
The Heart
The Wave of River
Farewell O World's Congregation!
Young Baby
The Portrait of Anguish
Lament of Separation
The Moon
Bilal
The Story Of Adam
The Indian Anthem
Firefly
Morning Star
The National Anthem For the Indian Children
A New Altar
Dagh
Cloud
Firefly and Bird
The Child and the Candle
On the Bank of the Ravi
The Traveller’s Request
Do not look at the garden of existence like a stranger
If you had not come I would have had no occasion for...
O Lord! Strange is the piety of the preacher
I should procure such straws for my nest from somewhere
What can I say how I got separated from my garden
Unusual in state, distinct from the whole world they are
One should not see the Spectacle with the material eye
What should I say how much Longing for dejection I have
The one I was searching for on the earth and in heaven
Completion of your Love is what I desire
When that Beniaz opens His Graceful Hand
I bear hardships on myself, I am unconcerned with others
Majnun abandoned habitation, you should abandon wilderness...
Love
Beauty’s Essence
The Message
Swami Ram Tirath
Addressed To the Students of Aligarh College
The Morning Star
The Beauty and the Love
On Seeing a Cat in the Lap of Someone
The Bud
Moon and Stars
The Union
Sulaima
The Unfaithful Lover
The Unsuccessful Effort
The Song of Grief
The Short-Lived Joy
Man
The Manifestation of Beauty
One Evening
Solitude
The Message of Love
Separation
To Abd Al-Qadir
Sicily
The life of Man is no more than a breath!
O God! Teach a little Love to my happy Intellect.
The world will know when the flood of conversation will...
Thy splendor is manifest in thunder, in fire, in spark
O worldly congregation! Though your gatherings were...
We circumambulate the wine‑cup like the wine’s ref...
Time has come for openness, Beloved’s Sight will be common
The Islamic Cities
The Star
Two Planets
The Royal Cemetery
Morning’s Appearance
Tadmin on a Verse of Anisi Shamlu
The Philosophy of Grief
On a Flower-offering
The Anthem of the Islamic Community
Patriotism
A Pilgrim on His Way To Madinah
Qat`ah
The Complaint
The Moon
The Night And The Poet
The Assembly of Stars
Strolling in the Celestial World
Advice
Rama
The Motor Car
The Human Race
Address to the Muslim Youth
The Eid Crescent
The Candle and the Poet
Muslim
Before the Prophet’s Throne
The Hospital of Hijaz
The Answer to the Complaint
The Cup-Bearer
Education and Its Consequences
Closeness to Kings
The Poet
The Good News of the Dawn
Prayer
In Response To the Request For Writing a Poem on 'Eid
Fatima Bint ‘Abdullah
The Dew And The Stars
The Siege of Adrianople
Ghulam Qadir Ruhilah
A Dialogue
I and You
The Poem Based on a Verse of Abu Talib Kalim
Shibli and Hali
Evolution
Abu Bakr The Truthful
The Present Civilization
In Memory of My Late Mother
The Sun’s Ray
‘Urfi
In Response To a Letter
Nanak
Infidelity and Islam
Bilal
The Muslims and Modern Education
The Princess of Flowers
Based on a Verse of Sa’ib
A Conversation in Paradise
Religion
An Incident of the Battle of Yarmuk
Religion
Remain Attached To the Tree Keep Spring’s Expectation
The Night of the Celestial Ascension of the Prophet
The Flower
Shakespeare
I and You
Imprisonment
Begging For the Caliphate
Late Shah Din Humayun
Khizr the Guide
The Rise of Islam
O zephyr! Convey my message to the one wrapped in blanket
These songs of turtle doves and nightingales are merely...
O dejected nightingale your lament is immature still
Lift the veil from thy Face and be manifest in the assembly
The spring breeze is flowing again start singing, O Iqbal
For once, O awaited Reality, reveal Thyself in a form...
No wonder if the garden birds remained fond of poetry even...
Though you are bound by cause and effect
In the East principles are changed to religion
The girls are learning English
The Sheikh also is not a supporter of women’s seclusion
O wise man! This is a matter of a few days only
Western education is very encouraging
It does not matter if the preacher is poor
The patient of civilization will not be cured by the goli
Will there be an end to this, how long should we buy
We poor Easterners have been entangled in the West
“The search, the witness and the thing witnessed are the...
We have lost all material resources
As I tried to commit suicide the Miss exclaimed
So naive were they not to appreciate the Arabs’ worth
In India councils are a part of the government
Membership of the Imperial council is not at all difficult
What will be a better proof of affection and fidelity
The Sheikh was giving a sermon on the mode of operation
Let us see how long this business of the East lasts
The cow one day started saying to the camel
Last night the mosquito related to me
This new ‘verse’ was revealed to me from the jail
Life may be lost but truth should not be lost
Capital and labor are in confrontation with each other
That eternal rind has departed from the border of Sham
One day a dispute arose between the farmer and the owner
Throw them out in the alley
The owner of the factory is a useless man
I have heard this was the talk in the factory yesterday
Though the mosque was built overnight by the believers

The Royal Cemetery

The sky is clothed in the cloud’s old tattered robe
The mirror of moon’s forehead is somewhat gloomy
The moon light is pale in this silent panorama
The dawn is sleeping in the lap of the night
How astonishing is silence of the trees
This silence is the soft tune of Nature’s harp
The heart of every speck of the universe is pathos embodied
And the silence is a sad sigh on the lips of existence
Ah! That fort, that universal mustering ground
Is carrying millennia’s weight on its shoulders
Was full of life at one time, now is desolate
This silence is the cemetery of its past elegance
It is the lover of the remains of its old denizens
It is standing on the mountain top like a sentinel
There from the cloud’s window above the sky’s roof
That young green star is viewing the universe
The earth’s vast expanse is a mere child’s play to it
The story of Man’s failure is known to it by heart
This traveler is going to his destination since eternity
Seeing revolutions’ spectacles from the sky’s seclusion
Though quiescence of the star is not possible in the universe
It has stopped momentarily for saying prayer for the dead
This earth is full of flowers of life’s variegations
This earth is the cemetery of many destroyed civilizations
This grief-stricken stage is the resting place of kings
O admonished eye! Pay the tribute of rosy tears
Though a mere cemetery, this dust ranks with the sky
Ah! this is the wealth of an unfortunate nation!
So astounding is the grandeur of mausoleums
That the spectator’s eye evades even winking
Such an expression of failure is in this picture
Which is impossible to reflect in description’s mirror
Far from the habitations’ crowds are sleeping
Those who were restless with unfulfilled Longings
The grave’s darkness holds the brilliance of those suns
At whose thresholds the sky used to remain prostrating
Is this the end of these emperors’ magnificence?
Whose diplomatic policies knew no decline
Be it the grandeur of Qaisar or Faghfur’s sway
The foe of death’s assault cannot be turned away
The result of kings’ life-efforts also is the grave
The last stage on path of magnificence is the grave
Neither the happy assembly’s commotion nor the genius’ talk
Not even the wailing people’s whole night’s compassion!
Neither the tumult of the sword in the battle!
Nor the cry of blood warming Takbir!
No call can wake up those who are sleeping
No life can return to the desolate breast
The soul in the handful of dust is enduring injustice
When breath enters non-existence’ flute it is a mere complaint
Human life resembles the sweet singing bird, which
Sat on the branch a while, chirped, flew away
Ah! For what purpose did we come in the world, for what purpose did we go away!
Sprouted from the life’s branch, blossomed, faded away
Death is interpretation of the dream of the king and the poor alike
This atrocious one’s terror is the picture of justice
The stream of life is a boundless ocean
And the grave is a wave of this boundless ocean
O ambition! Shed tears of blood as this life is unreliable
It is the smile of the spark, it is the flammable straw
This moon which is a miracle of the Lord of the universe
Clad in the robe of gold is slowly and proudly strolling
But in the frightening vastness of the starless sky
Its helplessness is worth watching at time of dawn
What was the moon is a mere piece of cloud
Whose destruction is in the last tear drop
Similarly unpredictable is the life of nations
Their glory is a picture of the happy times gone by
In this world no nation however prestigious it may be
Can continue its existence till the end of time
So much accustomed to nations’ destruction is the universe
That it watches this scene with indifference
Nothing stays the same without change
The universe’ nature is made of change
The beauty of world’s jewel is in ever-changing names
The mother earth has always remained expecting new nations!
This highway is acquainted with thousands of caravans
Kohinur’s eye is familiar with innumerable kings
Egypt and Babylon are annihilated, not a mark remains
The roll of existence does not have even their names
The evening of death has overpowered the sun of Iran
Time has robbed the grandeur of Greece and Rome
Ah! The Muslim also from the world similarly departed
The azure cloud appeared over the horizon, rained and departed
The rose petal’s vein is a string of pearls with dawn’s tears
Some ray of the sun is enmeshed in the dew
The river’s breast is the cradle for sun’s rays
How beautiful is the sun’s sight at the river bank!
Juniper is busy in beautifying, river is the mirror
For the flower bud spring breeze is the mirror
The cuckoo remains calling from the garden’s nest
Remains hidden from the human eye in the leaves’ privacy
And the nightingale, the flowery singer of the garden
By whose presence is alive the glory of the garden
Is a living picture of the commotion of Love
How beautiful is this picture from Nature’s pen!
In the garden the roses silent assemblies are holding
The shepherd boys’ shouts in the valley are echoing
This old world is so full of life
That in death also is hidden the zest of life
The petals fall in autumn in the same way
As toys fall from the sleeping infant’s hand
In this cheerful world though luxury is limitless
One grief, that is grief of the Millat is always fresh
Memories of the age gone by are still fresh in our heart
This Ummah cannot erase its kings’ memories form its heart
These desolate mansions are excuses for shedding tears
Insight has developed in the eye with continuous tears
We give to the world the pearls of the weeping eye
We are the remaining clouds of a storm gone by
There are hundreds of pearls in this cloud’s breast
Thunder still lurks in this cloud’s silent breast
It can change the dry wilderness to a flowery vale
It can change the farmer’s hope from slumber to awakening
The manifestation of this nation’s majesty has passed
But the manifestation of its beauty has not yet passed

Translated by: M.A.K. Khalil
The Royal Cemetery

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