Beauty

By Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

Shaped for eternity: yet tied to time’s cross.

What did he think whose hand crafted us?

Night after night he left us in the dark.

How could we stay true if he eluded us?

The edge of her sword leaps at us.

For beauty we bled, till death uplifted us.

Their clever snares never caught us.

Cold logic they had but never charted us.

In a solitary cell, Ghalib, we tread fire.

In body, heart, and soul, time has tested us.

By Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, tr. M. Shahid Alam, “Beauty” from Intimations of Ghalib. Copyright © 2018 Reprinted by permission of Orison Books.