Love Arm'd- Aphra Behn

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Love in Fantastique Triumph sat,

Whilst bleeding Hearts around him flow'd,

For whom Fresh pains he did create,

And strange Tryanic power he show'd;

From thy Bright Eyes he took his fire,

Which round about, in sport he hurl'd;

But 'twas from mine he took desire,

Enough to undo the Amorous World.

From me he took his sighs and tears,

From thee his Pride and Crueltie;

From me his Languishments and Feares,

And every Killing Dart from thee;

Thus thou and I, the God have arm'd,

And sett him up a Deity;

But my poor Heart alone is harm'd,

Whilst thine the Victor is, and free.

Aphra Behn

Our Lady of the snows... Rudyard Kipling.

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A NATION spoke to a Nation,
A Queen sent word to a Throne:
“Daughter am I in my mother’s house,
But mistress in my own.
The gates are mine to open,
As the gates are mine to close,
And I set my house in order,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

“Neither with laughter nor weeping,
Fear or the child’s amaze—
Soberly under the White Man’s law
My white men go their ways.
Not for the Gentiles’ clamour—
Insult or threat of blows—
Bow we the knee to Baal,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

“My speech is clean and single,
I talk of common things—
Words of the wharf and the market-place
And the ware the merchant brings:
Favour to those I favour,
But a stumbling-block to my foes.
Many there be that hate us,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

“I called my chiefs to council
In the din of a troubled year;
For the sake of a sign ye would not see,
And a word ye would not hear.
This is our message and answer;
This is the path we chose:
For we be also a people,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

“Carry the word to my sisters—
To the Queens of the East and the South.
I have proven faith in the Heritage
By more than the word of the mouth.
They that are wise may follow
Ere the world’s war-trumpet blows,
But I—I am first in the battle,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

A Nation spoke to a Nation
A Throne sent word to a Throne:
“Daughter am I in my mother’s house
But mistress in my own.
The gates are mine to open,
As the gates are mine to close,
And I abide by my Mother’s House,”
Said our Lady of the Snows.

Rudyard Kipling...
(Canadian Preferential Tariff, 1897)

It was never in my fate to meet my beloved.- Ghalib

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It was never in my fate to meet my beloved.
Even if more years of life was to me allocated,
I would have been still awaiting the prize cherished.

If you think that I had been living on your promise, it is a lie.
For, if I had faith in you, would not of joy I would die.

Woe betide, my friendship,
that the friends give pious advice and sermons they deliver.

I need someone on whose shoulders could I weep,
who could allay my grief and my fears.

Whom should I tell that the night of sorrow is full of pangs.
I would not have resented the death, if it comes only once.

Disgraced, as I was after my death,
why didn't I drown in a river or sea.

Neither, there would have been a funeral,
nor tomb erected for me.

The marvels of ethical problems and your statements full of meanings.
I would have counted you, "Ghalib" amongst dearest friends of God;
if only, you had not been a lover of drinks.

[ original - - - Yeh na thee hamari qismat..

Yeh na thee hamari qismat keh wisaal-e-yaar hota
Agar aur jeete rahtay yehi intezaar hota
Tere waade par jiyee ham to yeh jaan jhoot jana

Keh khushi se mar na jaate agar intezaar hota
Yeh kahaan ki dosti hai bane hain dost naaseh

Koi chaarasaaz hota koi ghamghuzar hota
Kahoon kis se main keh kya hai shab-e-gham buri balaa hai

Mujhe kya bura tha marana agar aikbaar hota
Huay mar keh ham jo ruswa huay kyun ka gharq-e-dariya
Na kabhi janaza uthata na kahin mazaar hota

Yeh masaael-e-tasavvuf yeh tera bayan ghalib
Tujhe ham wali samajhate Joh na badaakhwar hota. ]

Mirza Ghalib...

We all are Dr Faustus - Parvin Shakir