Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) translated from the Hindi-Urdu by Alverston & Associates

Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) translated from the Hindi-Urdu by Alverston & Associates

“Children, The Truehearted” (page 489)

Stars in the whole world’s eyes

These small flowers beloved by God

They pout, they quarrel,

And afterwards become friends again

With whom they wrangle,

Following moment they start discourse

They conceal no enmity towards anyone,

They do not regard anyone as a stranger

They embrace everybody with open arms

For as long a human remains a child,

Until then, His heart rests absolutely pure.

As His age increases,

His heart keeps putting on disheveled layers

Of falsehoods

Anger increases;

Hatred besieged, gets surrounded by greed

But childhood continues onwards

And a good way off from these evils

Tender persons have beautiful hearts

However, children are superior to adults

They don’t know defilement and contamination

No talk about false pretenses about caste

No language disputes, no walls of religiousness

In their eyes, temples, mosques, and churches are all the same.

Children

The truehearted

Stars in the whole world’s eyes

These tiny flowers

Beloved by God!

Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) translated from the Hindi-Urdu by Alverston & Associates