Bahadur Shah Zafar's Poem

Bahadur Shah Zafar II was the last Mughal Emperor who was defeated by the british in the 1857 rebellion and was exiled to Rangoon. He died a broken man in Rangoon in 1862.

The following poem was written by Bahadur Shah Zafar as his epitaph.

In Urdu
Lagataa nahiin hai jii meraa uja.De dayaar mein
Kis kii banii hai aalam-e-naa-paayedaar mein

Kah do in hasaraton se kahiin aur jaa basen
Itanii jagah kahaan hai dil-e-daaGadaar mein

Umr-e-daraaz maang ke laaye the chaar din
Do aarazU mein kaT gaye do intazaar mein

Hai kitana badanasiib Zafar dafn ke liye
Do gaz zamiin bhii na milii kU-e-yaar mein


English Translation
My heart is not happy in this despoiled land
Who has ever felt fulfilled in this transient world

Tell these emotions to go dwell elsewhere
Where is there space for them in this bismirched (bloodied) heart

I had requested for a long life a life of four days
Two passed by in pining, and two in waiting.

Of what what bad fate is Zafar! For burial
Even two yards of land were not to be had, in the land (of the) beloved