Portrait of a poet

“Here within prison walls confined I tune the lute of poetry
That sorrow bursting from my heart, transmuted into melody,
May sing a song to draw forth blood – that even from captivity
I may work wonders in the world, and build a tavern for the free

Thus shall I labour hard; hard labour cosorts with
imprisonment.
Bonds shall no longer choke my voice, and I will sing my
heart’s lament.”

- Ghalib, (Translated by Ralph Russell)

I don’t know much about Ghalib. Only that he was a great poet, and he loved wine, and women, and that he wasn’t very religious. Oh yeah, just found out that he used to write in Persian and Urdu.

You never completely get the original from a translation but I guess it makes little difference to folks like me.