Came across this beautiful translation of Faiz’s touching verse by Vikram Seth.
It is a great translation as it ventures to capture the melody and the mood of the original.
Last night your faded memory came to me
As in the wilderness spring comes quietly,
As, slowly, in the desert, moves the breeze,
As, to a sick man, without cause, comes peace.
image credit
The original lines –
Raat yuN dil meiN terikhoyi hui yaad aayi,
Jaise viraane meiN chupke se bahaar aa jaye,
Jaise sahraon meiN haule se chale baad-ae-naseem,
Jaise bimaar ko be-wajaah qaraar aa jaaye.
This was the surprise of the month for me. But then why am I surprised?Seth is a poet as much as he is a novelist. His enormous talent has been celebratedd by the world. (translation above is from Mappings).
Dara Shikoh with a saint [Src: A. Mittal]
Jahane Rumi 
I’d been searching for the beautiful rendition of this poetry by Nayyara Noor and came upon a website called Aligarians.com and found the song. I personally believe that the translation by Sarvat Rahman is better than this translation. You will find Sarvat’s translation and Nayyara Noor’s song on the same website. Here’s the link if anybody is interested. http://aligarians.com/2005/12/raat-yun-dil-mein-teri-yaad-aayi/
thank you sooooo much for publishing vikram seths photo online .
i don’t know otherwise what would had happened to my english project.
thankyou.
Vikram continues to bedazzle and mesmerise with his many talents.What a translation!
Seth has done a good job but nothing can be compared to Khuswant Singh’s renderiong of the same lines :
At night your lost memory stole into my mind
As spring silenly appears in the wilderness;
As in desert wastes morning breeze begins to blow
As in one sick beyond hope, hope begins to grow…