There are other worlds beyond the stars;
More tests of love are yet to come.
This vast space is not lifeless;
In it there are hundreds of other caravans.
Do not be content with the world of colour and smell;
There are other gardens, and other nests, too.
What is to worry if you have lost one residence?
There are other stations to sigh and cry for!
You are an eagle, born to soar;
You have other skies before you.
Do not get lost in this maze of day and night;
There is, for you, another space, another time.
Gone are the days when I was an isolate in the crowd;
Many here now are, confidants of mine.
Happy Pakistan independence day August 14th – Pakistan Zindabad!
Poem (in Urdu) by Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, The Poet of the East, from Bal-I-Jibril (Gabriel’s Wing), 1908