Love

I had a thousand desires, for each of them I would have died

by Mirza Ghalib 1797–1869

Translated by Inayat Khan and Jessie Duncan Westbrook (1919) · From Hindustani Lyrics (1919)

Love

I had a thousand desires, for each of them I would have died,
And what did I gain?
So many indeed are fulfilled, but how many beside
Insatiate remain!

We have known of the tale of how Adam to exile was driven;
More shameful in truth
Is my fate to be cast from the garden more favoured than Heaven
Where she walks in her youth.

That living and dying in love are but one I have proved,
This only know I
That I live by the sight of the beauty of her the Beloved
For whom I would die.

MLA

Ghalib, Mirza. “I had a thousand desires, for each of them I would have died.” Translated by Inayat Khan and Jessie Duncan Westbrook. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ghalib/3/.

Chicago

Ghalib, Mirza. “I had a thousand desires, for each of them I would have died.” Translated by Inayat Khan and Jessie Duncan Westbrook. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ghalib/3/.

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