Fragments by Mohammad Hussain Anqa

(1)

Drop by drop, celestial honey flows into my ears— 
In midnight hours, when the chime of your bangles fills the air,
I wonder whence the angels brought you this grace and modesty; 
No moon glows so purely, no blossom blooms so fair.

(2)

Whenever, in prayer, I lifted my hands, they were scorched.
Like ember smouldering beneath ash was the sky.
Tyranny's flames sear the earth like a griddle.
I seek to rest a little while, but tell me, how could I?

(3)

If it bears not the fragrance of her perfumed tresses, 
Let this callous breeze fall dead — I do not care. 
In quest of my heart, I seek you — but you’re nowhere, 
My heart—may it lie tangled in a knot of your hair. 

(4)

If you have seized my forbearance, along with your grace, 
The joy of love and longing will fade, you must know. 
At dawn, Anqa whispered to the nightingale in the cage: 
“Most of my captive days are gone, just a few left to go.”

(5)

The cloud burst forth and showed you — 
Ask your tresses how blessings are bestowed. 
A home is where the heart finds peace, 
Cots and couches alone make no abode. 

(6)

I know not by what mysterious fashion, the Creator shaped this world— 
The shepherd dreads the wolf; the wolf fears the shepherd’s wrath. 
Anqa! I spilled my blood so blossoms might grace every garden in the land; 
Yet never once did I dive for pearls beneath the ocean’s path.

(7)

They crushed the only blossom I called my own
May every garden wither, far and nigh.
They show me not the path unto her abode
May God rend every star out of the sky.

(8)

He rends the garment, only to mend it whole again.
How artful this madness proves itself to be.
Why does autumn fall to me, while spring blossoms for you,
If from the selfsame clay are fashioned both you and me?

(9)

Like a night flower's fragrance adrift through the eerie darkness,
O butterfly of my love, when will you come to me silently?
Beside my pillow, there shimmered your outstretched hand.
I reached to steal a kiss, but the sword cut through me.