Mirza Ghalib's ghazal: Aisaa aasaan naheen lahu ronaa...

Mirza Asadullah Khan 'Ghalib' is among the giants of Urdu poetry. Ghalib was born in Agra in 1797 and breathed his last in Delhi in 1869.

While Ghalib is often viewed as a poet who wrote in Persianised Urdu, the reality is that large part of his poetic works is in simple language also. See a ghazal in short 'beher' thathas comparatively much simpler words.

Read the ghazal in Roman, Urdu and Hindi scripts:

वो फ़िराक और वो विसाल कहाँ
वो शब्-ओ-रोज़-ओ-माह-ओ-साल कहाँ 
[firaq=separation, visaal=union]

फुर्सत-ए-कारोबार-ए-शौक़ किसे
ज़ौक-ए-नज़ारा-ए-जमाल कहाँ

थी वो एक शख्स के तसव्वुर से
अब वो रानाई-ए-ख़याल कहाँ

ऐसा आसान नहीं लहू रोना
दिल में ताक़त जिगर में हाल कहाँ

फिक्र-ए-दुनिया में सर खपाता हूँ
मैं कहाँ और यह वबाल कहाँ

गालिब


Now read the English transliteration:


voh firaaq aur voh visaal kahaaN
voh shab-o-roz-o-maah-o-saal kahaaN 

fursat-e-karobaar-e-shauq kise
zauq-e-nazaara-e-jamaal kahaaN 

thii voh ek shaKhs ke tasavvur se
ab voh raanaaii-e-Khayaal kahaaN

aisaa aasaaN nahiiN lahuu ronaa
dil meN taaqat jigar meN haal kahaaN

fikr-e-duniyaa meN sar khapaataa huuN
maiN kahaaN aur yah vabaal kahaaN

Ghalib