ye naa thi hamaari qismat ke visaal-e-yaar hotaa
agar aur jite rahate, yahi itazaar hotaa
tere vaade par jiye ham, to ye jaan jhuth jaanaa
ke khushi se mar na jaate, agar etabaar hotaa
teri naazuki se jaanaa ke badhaa thaa ahad buda
kabhi tu na tod sakataa, agar usatavaar hotaa
koi mere dil se puchhe, tere tir-e-nim kash ko
ye khalish kahaan se hoti, jo jigar ke paar hotaa
ye kahaan ki dosti hai ke bane hai dost naaseh
koi chaaraa saaz hotaa, koi gam gusaar hotaa
rag-e-sag se tapakataa, vo lahu ke phir na thamataa
jise gam samajh rahe ho, ye agar sharaar hotaa
gam agar-che jaan gusal hai, par kahaan bachai ke dil hai
gam-e-ishq gar na hotaa, gam-e-rozagaar hotaa
kahun kis se mai ke kiyaa hai, shab-e-gam buri balaa hai
mujhe kiyaa buraa thaa maran agar aik baar hotaa
hue mar ke ham jo rusavaa, hue kyun na gharq-e-darayaa
na kabhi janaazaa uthataa, na kahi mazaar hotaa
use kaun dekh sakataa ke, yagaana he vo yakataa
jo doi ki bu bhi hoti, to kahi dochaar hotaa
ye masaa-el-e-tasavvuf, ye teraa bean, gaalib
tujhe ham vaali samajhate, jo na baadah khaar hotaa

It was not fated, friend, our meeting's tender grace,
Had life endured, the longing would embrace.
Upon your promise, our existence spun,
A lie, we knew, our joy undone.

Your fragile heart, a whispered vow it made,
Unbreakable, had strength not swayed.
Ask my heart the pain, the arrow's sting,
Where would the ache reside, beyond the wing?

What friendship this, that counsel takes its hold?
A healer needed, a tale to be told.
From stone, a trickle, blood that flows in vain,
The spark you mock, were it a burning stain.
Though grief consumes, where can the heart find ease?
Were love's deep sorrow lost, the world's unease.

To whom confide the night's dark, binding plight?
Better to die, once, and embrace the light.
To die disgraced, why not the sea's embrace?
No funeral then, no lasting trace.

Who sees the One, in singular domain?
Had duality existed, twain.
These Sufi riddles, your unbound despair,
Ghalib, a saint you'd be, had you not drunk the air.