कल? कल पर विश्वास किया कब
करता है पीने वाला,
हो सकते कल कर जड़ जिनसे
फिर-फिर आज उठा प्याला,
        आज हाथ में था, वह खोया,
        कल का कौन भरोसा है;
कल की हो न मुझे मधुशाला
काल कुटिल की मधुशाला।

( Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Madhushala)

(Complete Madhushala in Devnagri is available on my "Writings Page". Check out the section "Hindi Poems by Others")

Literal Translation (To the extent I could do it)

Future (Tomorrow)? When does a drinker put faith on future (tomorrow)? The hands which have picked up the wine-glass time and again today may get paralyzed tomorrow. Present (Today) is in our hands; that is lost, how dependable is the future (tomorrow)? Tomorrow the tavern may not be mine, it belongs to the cruel time.

(The words कल and आज literally mean 'tomorrow' and 'today', but they are used in the sense of future and present. So, I have translated them so and have written the literaly meaning in brackets.)

Categories: Excerpts