The Pain is Mild | A Transcreation from a Ghazal by Gulzar

The pain is mild, the breath
has clotted in dew.
My rituals of living
will continue.

In every moment
after you,
You have been
with me, too.

Now unfold the night’s
moonlit duvet;
I’ve rubbed camphor
on the day’s mildew.

Yesterday, your memoirs
stole all hearts;
Today, I have written
a fable, too.

O Qasim, the words that
you murmured in your dreams,
Have become the qainaat
of your retinue.

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दर्द हल्का है, साँस भारी है
जिये जाने की रस्म जारी है

आप के बाद हर घड़ी हमने
आप के साथ ही गुज़ारी है

रात को चाँदनी तो ओढ़ा दो
दिन की चादर अभी उतारी है

कल का हर वाक़या तुम्हारा था
आज की दास्ताँ हमारी है

गुलज़ार

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The final couplet, bearing the takhallus ‘Qasim’ in the English transcreation is an addition not part of the original ghazal written by Gulzar.