Birha Ke Dohe

Tujh bin har din kaise niglun, bina namak ka saag

Kab aavoge, thakya chhat pe bol bol ke kaag
Kab ghar par sovoge sajan, kab jagenge bhaag

Sukha patta joban mera, yaad tumhari aag
Raat huyi hai karwat karwat, bistar kala naag

Kaisa jetha, kaisa kattik, kaise pus or maagh
Bin baati ke bale diwali, sookha ghoome faag

Kab tak bairan neend banegi, kab tak hogi jaag
Kab tak jogan aankh japegi vahi purana raag

Gaon ko bhooli, des bhi bisra, aisi laagi laag
Bas ve chunri od ke raakhun, jismein laaga daag

Tujh bin har din kaise niglun, bina namak ka saag    



(A Translation)

These are the words of a woman who waits in quiet desperation for her lover to return. Her life is caught in a hiatus of constant craving. The structure is in the form of ‘doha’, i.e. couplets in Hindi. It also has shades of sufi poetry where the lover could very well be The Divine.

The Couplets of Severance

O, how do I swallow each day without you, for ‘tis bland like a meal without spice?

The crow has grown tired of cawing on my roof (Cawing of a crow on one’s roof is considered an omen for someone coming back home), when will you return?
O, when will you sleep at home, and when will my luck awaken?

My youth is akin to dried leaves, and your memories, like fire.
The night is tattered to tosses and turns, and my bed feels like a venomous snake.

The seasons, they go by listlessly, ever since you've left.
‘Diwali’ (a festival where one lights lamps) burns without wick, and ‘Holi’ (a festival where people play with water) roams all dry.

O, for how long shall this sleep stay an enemy, for how long shall I keep awake?
O, for how long shall my eyes chant the same old song, how long?

I have forgotten my native village, even my native country, such is my obsession.
All I do is roam about in these sullied clothes. (In sufi poetry, the body has often been compared to a sullied robe that one must get rid of in order to be one with one’s beloved, The Divine.)

O tell me, how do I swallow each day without you, for ‘tis bland like a meal without spice?