Intikhab-e-Mir: Sixty Ghazals of Mir Taqi Mir in English

Mir lived through the ruin of Delhi: the invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali, the loss of patrons and of his home. From that experience he made a poetry of grief and love in the plainest language, close to speech, which still feels startlingly direct. Ghalib wrote of him: You are not the only master of Rekhta, Ghalib; they say there was a Mir in times gone by. (Rekhta was the old name for Urdu poetry.)

A ghazal is a chain of couplets, sher, each complete in itself, linked by a shared rhyme (qafiya) and refrain (radif). The last couplet usually contains the poet's pen-name, takhallus; in these poems, Mir. Read each couplet slowly as a separate poem, then notice how the refrain gathers them into one mood.

On this site every ghazal has the Urdu text with an English translation beside it, so you can follow the meaning couplet by couplet.

The ghazals are grouped in tens, each named after a line from within it: Why Weep on Love's Long Road?, The Wound and the Scar, A Voice from My Grave, Like the Scent of the Rose, Grief Told Behind the Veil of Verse and When Will Mir's Ghazal Not Be Read? Learn more about the poet in our guide to Mir Taqi Mir.