ek ajnabii KHaatuun ke naam KHushbuu kaa tohfa vasuul hone par
kisī ke dast-e-ināyat ne kunj-e-zindāñ meñ
kiyā hai aaj ajab dil-navāz band-o-bast
mahak rahī hai fazā zulf-e-yār kī sūrat
havā hai garmī-e-ḳhushbū se is tarah sarmast
abhī abhī koī guzrā hai gul-badan goyā
kahīñ qarīb se, gesū-ba-dosh, ġhuncha-ba-dast
liye hai bū-e-rifāqat agar havā-e-chaman
to laakh pahre biThā.eñ qafas pe zulm-parast
hamesha sabz rahegī vo shāḳh-e-mehr-o-vafā
ki jis ke saath bañdhī hai diloñ kī fat.h o shikast
ye sher-e-hāfiz-e-shīrāz, ai sabā! kahnā
mile jo tujh se kahīñ vo habīb-e-ambar-dast
”ḳhalal-pazīr buad har binā ki mai-bīnī
ba-juz binā-e-mohabbat ki ḳhālī az-ḳhalal-ast”
किसी के दस्त-ए-इनायत ने कुंज-ए-ज़िंदाँ में
किया है आज अजब दिल-नवाज़ बंद-ओ-बस्त
महक रही है फ़ज़ा ज़ुल्फ़-ए-यार की सूरत
हवा है गर्मी-ए-ख़ुशबू से इस तरह सरमस्त
अभी अभी कोई गुज़रा है गुल-बदन गोया
कहीं क़रीब से, गेसू-ब-दोश, ग़ुंचा-ब-दस्त
लिए है बू-ए-रिफ़ाक़त अगर हवा-ए-चमन
तो लाख पहरे बिठाएँ क़फ़स पे ज़ुल्म-परस्त
हमेशा सब्ज़ रहेगी वो शाख़-ए-मेहर-अो-वफ़ा
कि जिस के साथ बंधी है दिलों की फ़तह ओ शिकस्त
ये शेर-ए-हाफ़िज़-ए-शीराज़, ऐ सबा! कहना
मिले जो तुझ से कहीं वो हबीब-ए-अम्बर-दस्त
”ख़लल-पज़ीर बुअद हर बिना कि मय-बीनी
ब-जुज़ बिना-ए-मोहब्बत कि ख़ाली अज़-ख़लल-अस्त”
کسی کے دست عنایت نے کنج زنداں میں
کیا ہے آج عجب دل نواز بند و بست
مہک رہی ہے فضا زلف یار کی صورت
ہوا ہے گرمئ خوشبو سے اس طرح سرمست
ابھی ابھی کوئی گزرا ہے گل بدن گویا
کہیں قریب سے ،گیسو بدوش ،غنچہ بدست
لیے ہے بوئے رفاقت اگر ہوائے چمن
تو لاکھ پہرے بٹھائیں قفس پہ ظلم پرست
ہمیشہ سبز رہے گی وہ شاخ مہر و وفا
کہ جس کے ساتھ بندھی ہے دلوں کی فتح و شکست
یہ شعر حافظ شیراز، اے صبا! کہنا
ملے جو تجھ سے کہیں وہ حبیب عنبر دست
”خلل پذیر بود ہر بنا کہ مے بینی
بجز بنائے محبت کہ خالی از خلل است”
– Faiz Ahmad Faiz,
Central Jail, Hyderabad
28, 29 April, 1953
This appears in Agha Shahid Ali’s Rebel’s Silhouette as
Fragrant Hands
(For the unknown woman who sent me a bouquet of flowers in prison)
A strange arrangement to comfort the heart-
someone has made that possible
in a corner of the cell
with giving generous hands,
and the air is now so softened,
I compare it with the beloved’s hair,
the air is so drowned,
I think a body, wearing a jewellry of blossoms,
has just passed this way.
And as the air holds itself together,
a bouquet of compassion,
I can say:
Let thousands of watches be set on cages
by those who worship cruelty,
fidelity will always be in bloom –
this fidelity on which are grafted
the defeats and triumphs of the heart.
Should you, Oh air, ever come across her,
my friend of fragrant hands, recite this from Hafiz of Shiraz to her:
“Nothing in this world is without terrible barriers –
Except love, but only when it begins.
Agha Shahid Ali also uses the Hafiz verse in one of his own poems: By the Waters of the Sind
Google Translate renders these lines as:
“Every building you see was disruptive
Except for love, it is free from defects.
Juvenilia 
So, as it turns out, the Hafez verse is, literally,:
//Every foundation [of the edifices] you see is inclined to breach [some day]
Except the foundation of love, for it is devoid of any breach.//
Or, to stay with Ali’s idiom, something like:
Nothing in this world will stay
Except love
for its foundations do not give way
Clearly, ASA was dancing to his own music . But for my having across his translation of Faiz, I don’t think I would ever have even come close to knowing what Hafiz may actually have written, or meant.
Also, oddly, I could not find this verse said to be of Hafiz anywhere else, other than in Faiz, and Ali’s translations in two places – in Rebel’s Silhouette and then his own poem seem – seemed to be the only ones online.
Thanks to a friend, the missing Hafiz ghazal mystery is – finally – cracked too, for there was a bit of an alteration in the Faiz poem on Rekhta, and searching for this:
مگر بنای محبت که خالی از خلل است
[मगर बनाए मुहब्बत कि ख़ाली अज़ ख़लल अस्त]
instead of
بجز بنائے محبت کہ خالی از خلل است
ब-जुज़ बिना-ए-मोहब्बत कि ख़ाली अज़-ख़लल-अस्त
helped.
See here
LikeLike