I can’t withstand.
Helpless you made me,
I may perish in this grief.
Love enter this dwelling,
I shall lock the doors.
Without you, I am extinguished and
Thrown out from this dwelling of love.
I may perish in this grief.
O My saaki you made me oblivious of my existence,
Now tell me whom have thee befriended?
How could they be prettier than me Love?
Listen I may perish in this grief.
In darkness, the pearl seller told me straight truth
The real Pearl lies hidden in a stone only.
Listen love, I may perish in this grief.
(Translation from Kashmiri by a K Mota)
About the Poet:
Rasul Mir (1820-1870) was one of the leading Kashmiri poets of the 19th century. He was born at Doru Shahabad, a historic town in the Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir. He was said to have been alive in 1855 AD when Mahmood Gami died. Rasul Mir died a few years before-Maqbool Shah Kralawari (d.1874). He is one of the most celebrated Kashmiri poets and is popularly called as the John Keats of Kashmir. He brought Gazal to Kashmiri poetry. Gazals with rivers , valleys , birds , fruits and imagery of Kashmir are his forte. Romanticism was the main theme of his poetry.