Classical · 1775–1862 · Delhi – Rangoon
Bahadur Shah II, who wrote under the pen name Zafar, was the last Mughal emperor and a poet of genuine feeling. A pupil in the Delhi tradition of Zauq and Ghalib, he is remembered for ghazals of resignation and longing written as his empire dissolved. Exiled to Rangoon after 1857, he died far from the Delhi he mourned in verse.
lagta nahin hai dil mera ujRe dayaar mein
kis ki bani hai aalam-e-na-paaydaar mein
umr-e-daraaz maang ke laaye the chaar din
do aarzu mein kaT gaye do intezaar mein
kitna hai bad-naseeb zafar dafn ke liye
do gaz zameen bhi na mili koo-e-yaar mein
na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon na kisi ke dil ka qaraar hoon
jo kisi ke kaam na aa sake main vo ek musht-e-ghubaar hoon
baat karni mujhe mushkil kabhi aisi to na thi
jaisi ab hai teri mehfil kabhi aisi to na thi
bulbul ko baaghbaan se na sayyaad se gila
qismat mein qaid likhi thi fasl-e-bahaar mein
ye chaman yun hi rahega aur hazaaron jaanvar
apni apni boliyaan sab bol kar uR jaayenge
baad mujh ke kis ko ab armaan-e-aabaadi rahi
shamma le kar aakhri aata hai vo veeraan mein