Some of the most piercing Urdu poetry says everything in just two lines. Here is a collection of two-line sad couplets, with Roman transliteration and English translation.

Two-Line Sad Couplets

Nahin hai ab koi shikaayat tum se
Tu rakh doosron ko khush, hum tanha hi achhe hain

I have no complaint against you any more — go on, keep the others happy; I am better off alone.

Al-firaaq ashaddu min al-mawt
Judaai maut se ziyaada sakht hai

Separation is harsher than death itself.

Khaamoshiyaan be-wajah nahin hoti
Kuchh dard aawaaz chheen lete hain

Silences are never without reason — some sorrows simply steal away the voice.

Ada hai, ishq hai, khwaab hai, tamaasha hai
Hamaari aankh mein ek shakhs be-tahaasha hai

It is grace, it is love, it is a dream, it is a spectacle — a certain someone lives boundlessly in my eyes.

Hum rote rahe raat bhar, faisla na kar sake
Ke tum yaad aa rahe ho ya hum yaad kar rahe hain

All night we wept, unable to decide — whether you were coming to mind, or we were the ones remembering you.

Phir yun hua ke sabr ki ungli pakaR ke hum
Itna chale ke raaste hairaan reh gaye

Then it so happened that, holding the finger of patience, we walked so far that the very roads were left astonished.

Saare chehre waazeh na karaaye zindagi
Kuchh logon mein to jaan basti hai meri

Do not lay every face bare, O life — in some people my very soul resides.

Kuchh ajeeb sa mehsoos hota hai tumhein dekh kar
Samajh nahin aati ke jaan aati hai ya nikal jaati hai

Something strange comes over me when I see you — I cannot tell whether life returns to me, or leaves me. (Jaun Elia)

Ik din kaho ge use kya hua
Kal hi to baat hui thi hamaari

One day you will ask, 'What happened to him? — it was only yesterday that we spoke.'

Tere badalne ka dukh nahin hai
Main apne aitbaar par sharminda hoon

It is not your changing that grieves me — I am ashamed of my own trust.

Dil na-umeed to nahin, naakaam hi to hai
Lambi hai gham ki shaam, magar shaam hi to hai

The heart is not without hope, only unfulfilled — long is this evening of sorrow, yet it is, after all, only an evening. (Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

Hum to samjhe the ke ik zakhm hai, bhar jaayega
Kya khabar thi ke rag-e-jaan mein utar jaayega

I had thought it was just a wound that would heal — who knew it would sink into the very vein of life?

Koi aisa tha mere andar
Jo mujhe mujh se hi bezaar kar ke chala gaya

There was someone within me who, having turned me against my own self, walked away.

Aankhon mein paani liye mujhe ghoorta hi raha
Woh aaine mein khaRa shakhs pareshaan bahut tha

With water in his eyes he kept staring at me — that person standing in the mirror was deeply troubled.

Aaj dil udaas hai
Aur wajah maaloom hote hue bhi nahin maaloom

Today the heart is sad — and though I know the reason, somehow I do not.

Veeraani andar ki
Ek qalb jaane, ek Rab jaane

The desolation within — only the heart knows it, and only God.

Mujh ko fursat hi kahaan ke main mausam suhaana dekhoon
Main teri yaad se nikloon to zamaana dekhoon

Where do I even have the leisure to watch the lovely weather? — only if I could step out of your memory would I notice the world.

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