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اُردُوback GHALIB
translation from the Urdu by M. Shahid Alam
[You stopped just short of the highest note.]
You stopped just short of the highest note.
Read past the signs crowding your page.
I prepare for pain when I start my day.
When she awakes, the world is her stage.
When he stirs her fancy, I spell despair.
Quick, her eyelashes can work up a rage.
It’s spring! There’s a sting in old wounds.
Love tightens her grip: youth vexes age.
A hundred loves lie buried in your heart.
Ghalib, why dig this quarry? You are a sage. 
Contributor’s notes
Translation notes
[Inside the heart, love carps it lacks space.]
[One life, a thousand wishes, each to die for slowly.]
[You stopped just short of the highest note.]
[What will my friends do when all their gambits fail?]