What Have I Gained After Birth? Poem by Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali

(a) With full settlement, I had come
On business to the world;
Lured on the way I was
In the market place:
Behold how I bore with
The master mind:
What have I gained after I was born ?

(b) Why did I overhear my friend
At HIS house?
Who'll keep that laughing Joker
In good humour ?
Virtuous is my mind but
Plenty of sins have I gathered:
What have I gained after birth ?

(c) Spanned has the thread of
My necklace of pearls:
Consumed by fire
Have been all my gains
Reduced to dust or consigned to flames
Has been all my wealth:
What have I gained after birth?

(d) My living body fell here in chaos,
Good it is to sacrifice it for the times:
Wouldn't it honour the Lord?
What have I gained in life ?

(e) Originally crooked Couldn't reach the source
How I tried to uphold the dignity of
My home:
Keep in fear of HIM, O thee rider and pedestrian:
What have I gained in life

(f) Peddlers are on the move
From city to city:
Isn't it time for you
To burn in the fire of hell?
Kneeling low, Nund Reshi prays and
Exhorts the Lord in all humility:
What have I gained in Life ?