The One I Was Searching For On The Earth And In Heaven Poem by Allama Muhammad Iqbal

The one I was searching for on the earth and in heaven
Appeared residing in the recesses of my own heart

When the reality of the self became evident to my eyes
The house appeared among residents of my own heart

If it were somewhat familiar with taste of rubbing foreheads
The stone of Ka’ba’s threshold would have joined the foreheads

O Majnun! Have you ever glanced at yourself
That like Layla you are also sitting in the litter

The months of the union continue flying like moments
But the moments of separation linger for months!

O seaman, how will you protect me from being drowned
As those destined to drowning get drowned in the boats also

The one who concealed His Beauty from Kalim Allah
The same Beloved is manifest among beloveds

The breath of Lovers can light up the extinguished candle
O God! What is kept concealed in the breast of the Lovers?

Serve the fakirs if you have the longing for Love
This pearl is not available in the treasures of kings

Do not ask of these Devotees, if you have faith, you should look at them
They have the illuminated palm up their sleeves

The insightful eye for whose spectacle is tantalized
That elegance of congregation is in these very recluses

Burn the produce of your heart with some such spark
That the Last Day’s sun may also be among your gleaners

For Love search for some heart which would become mortified
This is the wine which is not kept in delicate wine glasses

The Beauty itself becomes the Lover of whose Beauty
O Heart! Does someone among the beautiful has that beauty?

Someone became highly excited at your grace of Ma’arafna
Your rank remained among the most elegant of all the Lovers

Manifest Thyself and show them Thy Beauty some time
Talks have continued among the sagacious since long time

Silent, O Heart! Crying in the full assembly is not good
Decorum is the most important etiquette among the ways of Love

It is not possible for me to deem my critics bad
Because Iqbal, I am myself among my critics