Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

19th Century

About Mirza Ghalib

Timeline (1797 - 1869)

Mirza Ghalib, Mirza Ghalib poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Robert Bly & Sunil Dutta

Original Language
Urdu

The Candle Flame

Themes

Fire

Recommended Books

	East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin
	The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell
	Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Translated by Robert Bly
	Mirza Ghalib: A Creative Biography, by Natalia Il'inichna Prigarina
	The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Edited by Ralph Russel

More >>

He gave me heaven and earth, and assumed I'd be satisfied,
Actually I was too embarrassed to argue.

The spiritual seekers are tired, two or three at each stage of the path.
The rest who have given up never knew your address at all.

There are so many in this gathering who wish the candle well.
But if the being of the candle is melting, what can the sorrow-sharers do?

-- from Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Translated by Robert Bly

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Mirza Ghalib

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World