Punjabi poetry

I am sitting here listening to some classics by Gurdas Mann. What is about Punjabi love songs that speaks to my soul? Gurdas Mann’s songs express the sentiments that my heart seems to have forgotten but recalls with a little nudge from him.

The longer I live, the more I realise that people seem to have forgotten the real meaning of love. That unconditional, abundant love is scarce nowadays. In a world of abundant sex, easy thrills, fast food, ever lasting love seems like a thing of the past. Why truly love when there are plenty of opportunities? When lust is being satisfied at every corner.

Perhaps I am an old soul. An old soul living in the wrong time. Perhaps what I look for never existed. It must have though because there is a human being in this world who felt what is written below. Now this is true love....

Gurdas Mann - Sajna Ve Sajna with English translation

sajna ve sajna tere shehar wali sanu ., kini sohni lagdi dupehar

Beloved, oh my beloved, the afternoon heat of your city seems so beautiful...

kini changi lagdi dupehar

I really like the afternoon heat...

fer v pata ni kaato, moh jeha aayi jande

Nevertheless, I don’t know why but I feel overwhelmed with love...

bhaave sade sar gaye ne pair, bhaave sade bhuj gaye ne pair

Even though my feet are burnt, even though my feet have been roasted (in the heat of your city)

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved.....

maa ne v rokeya, bapu ne v rokeya

Mother stopped me, Father stopped me

naa jaayi mitran de shehar

They said don’t go to your lover’s city

par sadi bhukh sagon dooni chauni hoi jaave

But my hunger to see you increased twofolds, three folds

haul painde rehan chato pair

I felt like I would faint from this hunger

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved....

tere shehar kaahi aayi mitra ve meriya

Since I have been in your city my dearest friend.

bhule sab shikve te vair

I have forgotten all bothersome things and enmities..

chit kare kakke kakke reteya nu chum lava

I feel like kissing the hot sand (on which you have walked)

lab kite sajna di pair

Only if I could find my beloved’s footprints 

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich sab apne hi vasde ne

In your city, everyone is my own

sade pind vasde ne gair

In my own village, they are all strangers

jine mile sanu sab, mile dukhk den wale

All people I have met so far have given me nothing but sadness

ik ne na pushi sadi khair

Not one asked me how I was

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich asi mangteya barobar

In your city, I am like a beggar

bhaave gurr paade, bhaave zehar

You can give me brown sugar or poison in alms

tere dar uto bhukh naina di mitaavni oye

At your door step, I am going to fullfil the hunger of my eyes

eho sade pakra di khair

This is my one wish to the saints

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

jag bhaave rus jaaye, rab bhaave rus jaaye

The world can get mad at me, God can get mad at me

sanu sade mitran di lehar

I have you (my beloved) to rely upon

maana marjaaneya ki shehar tera vekheya ooye

Maan, now that I have seen your city

saatho bhuli jandi na dupehar

I cannot forget that afternoon heat

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna 

Beloved, oh my beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved