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Gabriel and Lucifer1
Rhyme and Reason
Allamah Muhammad Iqbal
(Tr. by:Asif Iftikhar)

 

Gabriel:  O Friend of Yore! How the World of Death ‘n Life?

Lucifer:  In woe ‘n muse, pain ‘n smear, desire ‘n strife

 

Gabriel:  Of thee, talk in Heaven all the time

       Canst thou ever repent thy crime?

Lucifer:  Ah but Gabriel! Secret ‘tis, thou dost not know

             In shattering me cup, my inebriety Lo!

 

            I cannot live now where but joy doth dwell

            Its peaceful silence doth me repel!

 

            In whose torment the lure of strife

            Should he hope for doom or life?

 

Gabriel:  High stations lost thou with denial lame

               For thee were angels in such shame

 

Lucifer:  By panache mine, ‘tis handful dust alive!

            By trial mine, doth the mind strive!

 

            In battle good ‘n evil, from the shore ye see

            Whom doth the storm strike, thee or me?

 

            Leaders, guides, their hands but tied

            In storms mine, riseth every tide!

 

            Ask thy Lord, if free thou ever of thy song

            By whose blood doth Adam’s tale go on?

 

            Aye, perturb I did the Heart of God!

            Thou but: “O my Lord, O my Lord!”

 

 




 

 

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1.
Tr. Asif Iftikhar; In my opinion, the poem rebukes and shames those who dare not defy false gods of this world; Satan was stronger in his foolish ego than they are in their faith even though his glory was ephemeral and theirs could be eternal. (Asif Iftikhar)

   
 
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