While there are countless ways to express your love for your beloved, you can’t really go wrong with Urdu poetry, which is known for its lyrical beauty, deep meaning and emotion.
Mirza Ghalib, the Shakespeare of Urdu shayeri, has the last word on love. Can one disagree with his view that matters of heart can’t be decided by us humans as love comes unbidden and blossoms just like that?
Ishq par zor nahin hai ye wo aatish Ghalib
Jolagaye na lage aur bujhaye na bane
(No controlling love, it’s a fire
Can’t be ignited nor can be doused)
Urdu poetry comes to the aid of lovelorn folks whatever be the mood they like to reflect. There are any number of touching two-liners — rich in emotion and meaning. The master of ghazals that he is, Ghalib weaves magic in his love sonnets.
Tum mere pas hote ho goya
Jab koi dusra nahin hota
(As if you are with me, just when
There’s no one else around me)
On another occasion he says:
Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai
Aakhir isdard ki dawa kya hai
(O foolish heart what has befallen you
Don’t you know this sickness has no cure.)
Jigar Muradabadi
The best love is that which awakens the soul. Urdu shayeri does just that and leaves you gasping for more. For those pining for the ultimate, Allamma Iqbal, poet of East, has this to say:
Tere ishq ki intiha chahta hun
Meri sadgi dekh kya chahta hun
(Want to have the extreme of your love
See, how silly I am, wishing the impossible)
Urdu poetry is all about love — bitter, sweet and poignant. It offers amatory odes to fit all situations — love, loss, separation. Sample this verse of Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Hyderabad’s best known poet:
Aapki yaad aati rahi raat bhar
Chashmenam muskuraati rahi raat bhar
(Your thoughts lingered all night
My wet eyes kept smiling all night)
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Women can take recourse to Parveen Shakir to give vent to their feelings. A poetess of no mean repute, she has written on all facets of life specific to women.
Kaanp uthti hun ye soch kar tanhaee main
Mere chehre pe tera naam na padh le koi
(I tremble in solitude thinking
What if someone reads your name on my face)
Ladkiyon ke dukh ajab hotey hain, sacch us se ajeeb
Hans rahi hain aur kajal bheegta hai saath
(The pains of girls are strange, their truths even stranger
They chuckle, their kohl gets wet, together)
No, there is no dearth of ishqia shayeri with poets like Hasrat Mohani, Dagh Dehlvi, Jigar Muradabadi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz dishing out passionate verses that touch both the heart and the mind. Hyderabad founder, Mohd Quli Qutb Shah, whose dalliance with Bhagmati is legendary, composed Dakhni dialect poems full of love, mirth and vivacity. He sang paeans to his beloved.
Piya baaj pyala piya jai na
Piyabaj ek til jiya jai na
Kahithe piya bin saburi karoon
Kahhiya jai amma kiya jai na
(I can’t drink, my drink, without my love
I can’t breathe, I sink, without my love
I should be patient, you say, without my love
How easy to say, how hard to live, without my love)
