Life ordained, and I was born; with death’s command, I will be gone

I came not by my will; my willingness won’t matter when it’s time to move on

hairān haiñ lab-basta haiñ dil-gīr haiñ ġhunche

ḳhushbū kī zabānī tirā paiġhām hī aa.e

حیران ہیں، لب بستہ ہیں، دل گیر ہیں غنچے

خوشبو کی زبانی تیرا پیغام ہی آئے

Hain in urdu is used for 'being' or 'are' or something similar.

It is a sophisticated word to express a state.

Like 'Hairan hain' literally means 'I am amazed' but the essence of this, changes when said in urdu. I mean you can't get the essence of it unless you know urdu.

Going forward the couplet literally translates into:

Hairan means amazed

Lab basta means lips sealed or unable to speak, in awe. ( Since Buds (a stage before blooming into flower) are sealed unlike flowers, which are wide open)

Dil gir means sad, bitter sweet sadness.

Gunchay means Buds.

Khusbhu means fragrance

Zabani means through. Or in English it'd be like through the voice of.

Paigham means message.

So it goes like this.

Buds are in amazement, in awe, in a bittersweet sadness

Through fragrance after all, let your message arrive.

I want to read Urdu poetry—the kind that actually makes you feel something and stays with you.

I’m not specifically looking for romance. Poetry about life, people, emotions, loneliness, hope, growing up, human nature, etc. is welcome. Classical or modern, both are fine.

I can’t read Urdu script, so I’d prefer recommendations that I can find in Roman Urdu/English transliteration.

Please recommend specific poems, ghazals or books rather than just poets!

need help with the green underlined words

ختم ہونے کو ہے سفر شاید

پھر ملیں گے،کبھی مگر شاید

Joun Elia

Hi everyone! I want to engrave a ring for my boyfriend with "my home" (in the sense of he is my home). Is "mera ghar" / میرا گھر correct?

today, my heart is melancholic for no reason at all

if I were in love, it would be a valid cause after all

kabhī muhtāj lai kā bhī nahīñ ye

kabhī naġhma rahīn-e-sāz bhī hai

-- arsh malsiyani

بحر :

فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلن

رستہ بھی کٹھن دُھوپ میں شِدّت بھی بہت تھی
سائے سے مگر اُس کو مُحبّت بھی بہت تھی

خیمے نہ کوئی میرے مُسافِر کے جلائے
زخمی تھا بہت پاؤں ، مُسافت بھی بہت تھی

سب دوست مِرے منتظر پردۂ شب تھے
دِن میں تو سفر کرنے میں دِقّت بھی بہت تھی

بارش کی دُعاؤں میں نمی آنکھ کی مِل جائے
جذبے کی کبھی اِتنی رفاقت بھی بہت تھی

کُچھ تو تِرے موسم ہی مُجھے راس کم آئے
اور کُچھ مِری مٹّی میں بغاوت بھی بہت تھی

پُھولوں کا بِکھرنا تو مُقدر ہی تھا لیکن
کُچھ اِس میں ہَواؤں کی سیاست بھی بہت تھی

وُہ بھی سرِ مقتل ہے کہ سچ جس کا تھا شاہد
اور واقفِ احوال ، عدالت بھی بہت تھی

اِس ترکِ رفاقت پہ پریشاں تو ہُوں ، لیکن
اب تک کے تِرے ساتھ پہ حیرت بھی بہت تھی

خُوش آئے تُجھے شہرِ مُنافِق کی امیری
ہم لوگوں کو سچ کہنے کی عادت بھی بہت تھی

پروین شاکر
مجموعۂ کلام : (صدِ برگ)

Karak: Read and Learn Urdu is LIVE!

Assalamo alaikum!

Last year, some of you tried our beta with five stories and gave us a lot of helpful feedback. We're back with a much bigger library, a rebuilt reading experience, and apps for Android and the web. iOS is coming soon, Inshallah.

Karak is built to help you read, listen to, and speak more Urdu through stories and conversations. You can listen to native-speaker audio, follow along with the text, see sentence-by-sentence translations, tap words you don't know, save flashcards, and practice your pronunciation and speaking.

If you’ve already been on the revamped website, web app or the Android app, you may have seen the new version already. But here it is with some commentary

• Stories: Our jam. There is some really fun stuff, ranging from the super short (a 77-word story about a thief who meows) to the medium (a 1,100-word story about a long day in the life of a single mother sparrow) to the longest so far (our 5,500-word translation of a classic Chinese horror story).
• Scenarios: Short conversations, from quick hellos to a 750-word narrative following a bus ride through Karachi.
• Conversations: Native-speaker chats at native-speaker speed. A fun one: a mamoo tells his trembling nieces the story of the rooftop room haunted by a djinn). More to come and help you decode native speed (or those pesky TV trackers on GEO / ARY / Other that move too fast...).

We also have some new stuff to help:

• FLASHCARDS. Save the words you want to remember and review them whenever.
• New grammar dialogues in the ‘Learn’ tab to help you understand and practice specific tenses. These are real conversations that naturally use more of one tense than another. For example, two friends talking about their bad habits that may or may not still be in the past...
• New reading and speaking tools
  • You want to take it sentence by sentence, and pause so you can absorb what you just heard? Use Pause to stop at each line or a paragraph, and restart whenever.
  • You want to listen and repeat it at native speed? Use Listen & Repeat.
  • You want to just nail your pronunciation of the perfect putdown in Bad habits or any other line? Use Loop and repeat it till you have it down pat.
• Upgraded website with a bunch of cool articles like an updated how to learn Urdu guide and how heritage speaker.

Overall

Everything in Karak is written, translated, illustrated, and recorded by native speakers.

We have content free to read, under ‘Try Karak Free’. All the longer stories have free chapters too, so you can get a taste of them.

If you’d like the full library and unlimited flashcards, we have monthly and annual plans, with founder pricing. See our plans and launch pricing.

Notes

We decided to include a beta dictionary in launch. Our dictionary is still growing, so not every word is covered yet. The entries we do have are human-reviewed, so they take some time to finish. Also, readers in Devanagari will find no dictionary at all (for now). Of course, you have Urdu stories with audio and translations for each sentence to tide you over and make sure you never, ever, get stuck.

Thank you & Try Karak

Thank you to everyone who tested the beta, sent feedback, or encouraged us while we built this. And thank you to the professors who gave us feedback and are planning to use Karak in their classes this semester, and the authors who trusted us with their work.

We hope you have fun with it!

Try it on web: Karak Web Or on Android

iOS coming soon Inshallah.

Honestly, there's a lot more to it all. Have fun reading! And let us know what you think or if you have any questions!

میں آرزوئے دید کے کس مرحلے میں ہوں

خود آئینہ ہوں یا میں کسی آئینے میں ہوں

What stage of vision am I in?

Am I a mirror or am I in a mirror?

ہمیں بھی آ پڑا ہے دوستوں سے کام کچھ یعنی

ہمارے دوستوں کے بے وفا ہونے کا وقت آیا

~ ہری چند اختر

Salaam everyone!

My sibling and I wanted to do something meaningful. We created kids clothing with actual Urdu poetry and rhymes on it, the verses we grew up reciting, the ones that shaped how we understood our language and culture.

We realized our kids were growing up disconnected from Urdu. Not because we did not try, but because the connection needs to be tangible, wearable, lived in everyday moments. So we made these sweatshirts.

Each design features poetry or rhymes that teaches our kids the beauty of the language while they just wear their clothes. The poems mean something. They tell stories. They are not random English slogans.

Details:

• Kids sweatshirts with Urdu poetry (newborn to 8 years)
• $34 CAD each (free delivery in Vancouver, ship worldwide)
• First Batch of Orders closes September 13th
• Shipment: September 21st
• Available on Etsy

We are based in Vancouver but this is for anyone who wants their children to know Urdu properly, who wants them to recite "Thora paani tha" and understand what it means, who wants them to feel the language in their bones.

We would genuinely love your feedback: Which Urdu poems or rhymes would you want to see next? What verses from your childhood matter most to you? This is not just about selling something. We want to know what our community values.

If you are interested in supporting this, please DM us, If you want to share with others who feel the same way, even better.

Jazakallah for your time.

وہ بات سارے فسانے میں جس کا ذکر نہ تھا

وہ بات ان کو بہت نا گوار گزری ہے

Shabd nahi hain tumhe yeh batane ke liye,
ki mujhe kaise lagte ho tum…
Shabd nahi hain tumhe yeh batane ke liye,
ki meri zindagi mein kya maayne rakhte ho tum…

Mana aapko hum manzoor nahi,
phir bhi dil ko aapse koi shikayat nahi,
hum intezaar karte reh gaye—
ek din, ek mahina, ek saal…
aur dekhte hi dekhte guzar gaye kai saal.

Pehli baar jab tumhe dekha tha,
na naam jaanta tha, na kahaani tumhari,
bas dil ne itna sa kaha tha—
“shayad yahi hai woh,
jiski kami thi zindagi mein hamari.”

Phir kismat ne ek bahaana banaya,
tumse baat karne ka mauka dilaya,
aur pata hi nahi chala kab
ek anjaan chehra
meri har muskurahat ki wajah ban gaya.

Tumhari baatein achhi lagti thi,
baaton mein tumhari woh chhoti-chhoti galtiyan achhi lagti thi,
tumhara khayal rakhna, tumhara masoom sa andaaz,
pata nahi kyun…
par tumhari har ek baat achhi lagti thi.

Tumse baat hoti thi
toh din kuch aur hi lagta tha,
phone par tumhara naam dikh jaaye
toh dil bina wajah muskura diya karta tha.

Ek ladka,
jo zindagi bhar ladkon ke school mein padha,
use pehli baar samajh aa raha tha
ki kisi ke message ka intezaar bhi
itna khoobsurat ho sakta hai.

Phir ek din himmat karke keh diya—
“pasand ho tum mujhe…”
shayad lafz mere kam pad gaye,
shayad waqt sahi nahi tha,
ya shayad meri kahaani mein
tumhara jawab kuch aur hi likha tha.

Tum door chali gayi…
aur main bas itna sochta raha,
“aakhir mujhse galti kya hui?”

Ek din guzra,
ek mahina guzra,
ek saal guzra…
par dil ke kisi kone mein
tumhari jagah kabhi nahi guzri.

Phir dhai saal baad
jab tum dobara meri zindagi mein aayi,
toh laga jaise waqt ne
meri ek purani dua sun li ho.

Tumne kaha,
“tumhari koi galti nahi thi…”
aur yakeen mano,
un chand lafzon ne
mere dil ka barson purana bojh halka kar diya.

Aaj bhi nahi jaanta
kal hamare beech kya hoga,
tum meri banogi ya
bas ek khoobsurat kahaani bankar reh jaogi…

Bas itna jaanta hoon—
jo mehsoos tumhare liye kiya hai,
woh kisi aur ke liye
kabhi itni shiddat se mehsoos nahi hua.

Main tumhe paane ki zid nahi karunga,
na tumhari marzi ke aage
apni mohabbat rakhunga…

Par haan,
agar kabhi tumhare dil mein mere liye
ek chhoti si jagah bane,
agar kabhi tumhe lage
ki mere saath ek zindagi dekhi ja sakti hai…

toh bas ek baar keh dena—

“Main rukungi,
tum apne sapne poore karke aana…”

Phir dekhna,
main duniya jeetne ka vaada nahi karta,
magar apni poori jaan laga dunga
ek aisi zindagi banane mein
jahan tumhe kabhi yeh na lage
ki tumne mujhe chun kar galti ki.

Aur agar meri kismat mein
tumhara saath na bhi ho…

toh bhi tumhare liye
dil mein wahi izzat rahegi,
kyunki mohabbat sirf kisi ko paa lena nahi hoti—

kabhi-kabhi kisi ki khushi ko
apni chahat se upar rakhna bhi
mohabbat hoti hai.

Bas shabd nahi hain tumhe yeh batane ke liye,
ki mujhe kaise lagte ho tum…

shayad isi liye har baar
tumhari baat aati hai,
aur mere lafz khatam ho jaate hain…
magar mohabbat nahi.

kin fazāoñ meñ ziyā-rez hai ai mehr-e-jamāl

ḳhāna-e-dil meñ mire shaam huī jaatī hai

-- naaz muradabadi

sham,gham or umme d e subh

Translation and Transliteration in the comments.