would have built a wall
This is a fact, admit it.
One cannot be certain
that a friend's friend will also be a friend.
All friends are ranked,
and in that ranking
where you've been placed,
you will never find out.
You still haven't acquired the finesse to shake off with ease, and forever, your obsession with barren values. You go on seeking even now in friendship the naturalness of old, even in enmity a refined elegance.
You are an utter simpleton. Stop living in your past. Telephone first;
only then go out to visit.
Translated by Faruq Hassan & Stanley Rajiva
Tell Him
By a bird's sudden chirruping he was scared;
when a leaf fell off a branch into the brook below, he was startled;
he stayed perturbed for hours
upon seeing the sun's ray
peep through the bush.
Tell him,
why did he have to come with me
to go through the hardships of exile9
Annual of Urdu Studies, ^6 ""S