Payam-e-Mashreq: Message from the East

For a while now, I have been dipping into Allama Iqbal's poetry. A graduate of Cambridge University, Sir Muhammed Iqbal (1837 - 1938, British India), was popularly known as Allama Iqbal (the learned Iqbal) and remains a famed poet, philosopher, lawyer and political activist whose works in Urdu and Farsi have left a profound influence in the subcontinent and beyond.

In Pakistan he is considered a Muslim revivalist and in Afghanistan and Iran, he carries the honorific title or Eghbal-e-Lahori - Iqbal of Lahore. 

Amongst his famed works is the Payam-e-Mashreq (Message from the East) from which this quatrain, is taken.

دل من روشن از سوز درون است

جهان بین چشم من از اشک خون است

از رمز زندگی بیگانه تر باد

کسی کو عشق را گوید جنون است

Dil man roshan az soz darun ast

Jahan bin chasham man as ashk khoon ast

Az ramz zindagee beegana tar bad

Kisee ko ashiq ra goweed janoon ast

My heart is alight with the burning within

I see the world though blood-stained tears

The search for life mysteries alienates us further from breath
For some love is said to be madness