The Philosophy of Grief (Addressed to Mian Fazli Husain Barrister At Law, Lahore)

Though the wine of life is the embodiment of pleasure The cloud of life carries tears also in its skirt

The bubble of life dances on the wave of grief “Alam’s” Surah is also part of the Book of Life

By losing even a single petal the rose ceases to be rose If the nightingale is unaware of autumn it ceases to be nightingale

The heart’s story is colored with Longing’s blood The human music is incomplete without lament’s cry

For the discerning eye the grief’s scar is insight For the soul sigh’s mirror is beauty’s accompaniment

Incidents of grief give perfection to human nature The dust of anguish is rouge for the heart’s mirror

Youth is awakened from sleep’s pleasure by grief This orchestra wakes up with this plectrum alone

For the heart’s bird grief is the strongest feather The human heart is a secret whose disclosure is grief

Grief is not distress, but is the soul’s silent song Which is locked in the embrace of existence’ harp

Whose night is not acquainted with Ya Rab’s plaint! Whose night does not manifest the stars of tears

Whose heart’s cup does not know breaking with grief Who always remained ecstatic with pleasure and exhilaration

The gardener whose hand is safe from thorn’s tip Whose love is unaware of the pathos of separation

Though grief’s affliction is far from his life The secret of life is concealed from his eyes

O the one with comprehension of life’s affairs Why should not grief and sorrow be easy for you?

Love is the introduction to the Eternity’s old treatise Human intellect is mortal but Love is eternally alive

The evening of death is no match to the sun of Love Love is the warmth of life and lasts till eternity

If annihilation had been intended for the departed beloved Love’s zeal would have also departed from the Lover’s heart

Love does not die by the beloved’s death It stays in the soul as grief but does not die

Lover’s immortality is the beloved’s immortality The beloved’s life is unacquainted with mortality

The spring comes singing from the mountain top Teaching the art of singing to the birds of the sky

Its mirror is bright like the Houri’s cheek But falling on valley’s rocks it is shattered

The river’s pearls ever more beautiful became That is by this fall they water’s stars became

The river of flowing mercury spread and became scattered A whole entire world of restless drops became manifest

But separation is the training for reunion to those drops After a while the same river is running like a silver string

The flowing river of life is of the same origin Falling from high it became the concourse of humanity

In the depths of this world we part to reunite But we cry considering temporary parting as permanent

Though the dead do die they do not perish Really they do not get separated from us

When Intellect be surrounded in worldly calamities Or when it be besieged in the dreary night of youth

When the heart’s skirt be the battle field of good and evil When journey to the goal be difficult in road’s darkness

When the Khizr of courage may be resigned from longing When Intellect be helpless and conscience a silent voice

When not a single fellow‐traveler be in the vale of life When not even firefly’s spark to show the way there be

The foreheads of the dead brighten up in this darkness As stars are shining in the darkness of the night.