Qalandar Bakhsh Jur'at (1749-1809) IN THE PRESENCE OF THE NIGHTINGALE: A SAHR'JiSoB Translated by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi & Frances W. Pritchett The cheapest carpet-weavers now pass by In orange shawls bestowed by the sunset sky. Trapped in the body, my spirit is grieved and stirred: Isn't it time for Doomsday, when the bald blackbird Tries to make her voice prevail In the presence of the nightingale? The sky gives kingship to those who begged for scraps, Grass-diggers now have emerald shawls as wraps. How vile that fishermen fish up ranks and banners! How foul that the female owl, devoid of manners, Tries to make her voice prevail In the presence of the nightingale! Country bumpkins now write Urdu verse—at least, they try. Carpenters now are painters—as soon as their pictures dry. In short, it seems injustice now goes from bad to worse: The ^yajna with plucked feathers, born to be perverse, Tries to make her voice prevail In the presence of the nightingale. *The text is from Kulllyat-e Jur°at edited by Iqtida Hasan (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1971. 3 vols), vol. 2, pp. 253-256.