I you want to hear rhetoric flower,
hand me the wine decanter.
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch
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I tease her, but she remains tight-lipped ...
if only she'd sipped a little wine!
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch
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I get that 'Ghalib' is not much,
but when a slave comes free, what’s the problem?
(Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch)
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Oh naïve heart, what will become of you?
Is there no relief for your pain? What will you do?
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch
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Ten thousand desires: each one worth dying for ...
So many fulfilled, and yet still I yearn for more!
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch
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All your life, O Ghalib, you repeated the same mistake:
Your face was dirty, but you kept cleaning the mirror!
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet translation by Michael R. Burch
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We have often heard of Adam's banishment from Eden,
but with far greater humiliation, I abandon your garden.
('Exiles' by Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet, loose translation by Michael R. Burch)
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Let me get drunk in the mosque,
Or show me the place where God abstains!
—Mirza Ghalib, Islamic couplet, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
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Love requires patience while passion races;
must my heart bleed constantly before it expires?
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
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I’ll only wish ill on myself today,
for when I wished for good, bad came my way.
—Mirza Ghalib, Urdu couplet, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
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