Hope (by Emily Dickson)

Beautiful lines by Poet Emily Dickson on Hope...

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

Sustaining Leadership

The one in front never sees how close people behind are. They become complacent and stop evolving, start stagnating. They don't know what pace to keep and start slowing down.

On the contrary, the people behind continuously have the back of the leader in front of them. Day in day out, that back keeps rankling upon their psyche, driving them to evolve and outperform beyond their limits. Then they catch up to the leader who gets blindsided and falls achieving leadership. The same story is repeated again and again.

The lesson here is to continuously keep evolving, striving to keep your best pace and keep checking your blindsided. Only then can you sustain your leadership.

Failure can never come to those who keep trying.

This is a very famous poem describing how it's important to keep trying, if you want to achieve success. It has been spoken on numerous occasions by many successful people to describe the simple lesson that in life true success can only be gained with hard work and dedications.

Below, in italics is the Hindi poem, written in English script. Following it is a rough English translation. The poetic metrics are missing in the translated version but hopefully you will get the general message.


Koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahin hoti...

Lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahin hoti.

Nanhi cheenti jab daana le kar chalti hai,
chadhti diwaaron par sau baar phisalti hai.
Mann kaa vishwaas saahas bharta hai,
chadh kar girnaa gir kar chadhnaa naa akhartaa hai.
Aakhir uski mehnat bekaar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahin hoti.

Dubkiyaan sindhu main gotakhor lagaata hai,
jaa jaa kar khaali haath laut ke aata hai.
Milte nahin sahaj hi moti gehre paani main,
muthi uski khaali har baar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahin hoti.

Asafalta ek chunauti hai ise swikaar karo,
kyaa kami reh gayi hai dekho aur sudhaar karo.
Jab tak naa safal ho neend chain ko tyaago tum,
sangharsh ka maidaan chod kar mat bhaago tum.
Kuch kiye binaa hi jai jai kaar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahin joti.

(English translation)
Failure can never come to those who keep trying.

A boat cannot cross the river by being afraid of the waves,
failure can never come to those who keep trying.

When a small ant walks carrying a heavy grain,
it slips hundreds of time while climbing up the walls.
As the self-belief in it's mind gives it courage,
climbing while falling, falling while climbing doesn't bother it.
Finally, it's hard work doesn't go to waste,
failure can never come to those who keep trying.

A diver dives into the river,
going multiple times he returns empty handed.
Finding a pearl is not so easy in such deep waters,
not every time his hands are empty,
failure can never come to those who keep trying.

Failure is a challenge please accept it,
what were the faults look at them and try to rectify,
until you have achieved success sacrifice your sleep and mental peace,
from the fields of struggle don't run away,
praise and fame cannot be achieved without doing anything,
failure can never come to those who keep trying.

Bending

That which cannot bend breaks!

When the sickle falls, the stalks that are too stiff and cannot bend get cut down first!

'Hindi: Jhukta wohi jisme jaan hoti hai,

            Akas to murde ki pehchaan hoti hai.
English:Bends he who has life in him.Rigidness is the identification of a dead body.

Bharam (Illusion!!)

Heard the following lines from a song written by Adeem Hashmi and sung by Parvaiz Mehdi titled 'toot jaye na bharam'. I recently came across these again in a video I was watching. I am trying to give a translation, which is more like my interpretation of the lines. Exactly translating the lines becomes difficult when it comes to poetry which convey multiple interpretations/layers through interplay of words and language. In any case, these are beautiful lines worth sharing...

Lines in Urdu/Hindi 
Tut jaye naa bharam, honth hilaaun kaisey.
Haal jaisa bhi hai, logon ko sunaun kaisey.

Phool hota to tere dar pe sajaa bhi rehtaa.
Zakhm leke terey dehleez pe aaun kaisey.

Tu hi batla meri yaadon ko bhulaane waaley.
Main teri yaad ko is dil se bhulaun kaisey.

Teri soorat hi meri aankh ka sarmaya (property) hai.
Tere chehre se nigaahon ko hathaoon kaisey.

Woh rulaata hai, to rulaaye mughey jee bharkey adi.
Meri aankein hain woh, main unkon rulaaun kaisey.


Translation (my interpretation) in English
If I try to do it by moving my lips, I am afraid the illusion may shatter.
Then how will I express them to people, whatever be my condition.

If I had a flower, then I could have decorated it at your door.
With this hurt and pain how can I come to your doorsteps.

Please tell me how, you who has forgotten my memories,
about how I can forget your memories

The vision of your face is the only property I have left,
how can I remove my sight from it ?

If your thoughts want to then try to make me cry to my heart's content now,
 as these are my own eyes, I can't make them cry however much I may want to.

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