Maryam Gazala: "On a surface of fog" [ghazal translation]

On a surface of fog to seek   this face to find
what's the purpose of such a peek   this face to find?

Why return yet again   with your platter of empty hunger?
day and night   of the watchman's pique   this face you find

The seductive allure of the beautiful world   gets sundered
when in flowery bowers   an oblique dry face   you find

Is it not a lost heartbroke vagabond   whom you glimpse
on his hill brought low   till no cheek-of-face   you find?

With no hesitant thought   you'd let Gazala jump right in
if yourself   a well right deep   aface   you find



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A transliteration of the original, his literal translation, and his own transcreated version of this Urdu ghazal (composed by contemporary poet Maryam Gazala Radhanpuri) are all presented by Max Babi here. The poem was drawn from Gazala's volume of ghazals, Kshitij ki Dehliz Par (On The First Rung of The Horizon).

See also another (version-of-a-)ghazal of hers, blogged earlier: "It's delicatesse"