Uncommon Beauty
I did not ask for uncommon beauty in afterlife.
Only one that restores the life I had in you.
Do not bury me in your yard after you slay me.
Mad after me, why should the world find you?
I will get around to love’s grand gestures too.
Past ordinary sorrows, I will be back for you.
Must we go with Khizer, that hoary travel guide?
I will grant he is a sage and he looks out for you.
I have called on lovers to look out for Ghalib.
He is a good man, better poet and hurting like you.
.
by Ghalib
from Southern Review, Summer 2013
translation by M. Shahid Alam