Gabriel: O Friend of Yore! How the World of Death ‘n Life?
Lucifer: In woe ‘n muse, pain ‘n smear, desire ‘n strife
Gabriel: Of thee, talk in Heaven all the time
Canst thou ever repent thy crime?
Lucifer: Ah but Gabriel! Secret ‘tis, thou dost not know
In shattering me cup, my inebriety Lo!
I cannot live now where but joy doth dwell
Its peaceful silence doth me repel!
In whose torment the lure of strife
Should he hope for doom or life?
Gabriel: High stations lost thou with denial lame
For thee were angels in such shame
Lucifer: By panache mine, ‘tis handful dust alive!
By trial mine, doth the mind strive!
In battle good ‘n evil, from the shore ye see
Whom doth the storm strike, thee or me?
Leaders, guides, their hands but tied
In storms mine, riseth every tide!
Ask thy Lord, if free thou ever of thy song
By whose blood doth Adam’s tale go on?
Aye, perturb I did the Heart of God!
Thou but: “O my Lord, O my Lord!”
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1.
Tr. Asif Iftikhar; In my opinion, the poem rebukes and shames
those who dare not defy false gods of this world; Satan was stronger in his
foolish ego than they are in their faith even though his glory was ephemeral and
theirs could be eternal. (Asif Iftikhar)