Kitna Nazuk Hai Dil
“How Delicate Is the Heart”
Lyrics
Lyrics updated · July 2026English Translation
Giving constant grief — how delicate the heart is Alas, this cruel age, alas this cruel age
Like a dove you sat upon my roof You ate the grain and did not become tame Like a dove you sat upon my roof You ate the grain and did not become tame Go away, go away — stay away
Transliteration
Gham deye mostaqel, kitna nazuk hai dil Ye zamana, haye haye ye zalim zamana Haye haye ye zalim zamana Gham deye mostaqel, kitna nazuk hai dil Ye na jana, haye haye ye zalim zamana
Choon kabootar ba bamam neshasti Choon kabootar ba bamam neshasti Dana khordi o ramam nagashit Choon kabootar ba bamam neshasti Dana khordi o ramam nagashit Dur sho dur sho dur sho dur sho Bewafaye qadre ishqe bozorgam nadani Dur sho dur sho dur sho dur sho Bewafaye qadre ishqe bozorgam nadani
Gham deye mostaqel, kitna nazuk hai dil Ye na jana, haye haye ye zalim zamana Haye haye ye zalim zamana Gham deye mostaqel, kitna nazuk hai dil Kitna nazuk hai dil Ye na jana, haye haye ye zalim zamana Haye haye ye zalim zamana
Gham deye mostaqel, kitna nazuk hai dil Kitna nazuk hai dil Ye na jana, haye haye ye zalim zamana
متن اصلی
غم دیے مستقل، کتنا نازک ہے دل ہے زمانہ، ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ غم دیے مستقل، کتنا نازک ہے دل ہے نه جانہ، ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ
چون کبوتر به بامم نشستی چون کبوتر به بامم نشستی دانه خوردی و رامم نگشتی چون کبوتر به بامم نشستی دانه خوردی و رامم نگشتی دور شو دور شو دور شو دور شو بی وفایی قدر عشق بزرگم ندانی دور شو دور شو دور شو دور شو بی وفایی قدر عشق بزرگم ندانی
غم دیے مستقل، کتنا نازک ہے دل ہے نه جانہ، ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ غم دیے مستقل، کتنا نازک ہے دل کتنا نازک ہے دل ہے نه جانہ، ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ
غم دیے مستقل، کتنا نازک ہے دل کتنا نازک ہے دل ہے نه جانہ، ہائے ہائے یہ ظالم زمانہ
Giving constant grief — how delicate the heart is; alas, this cruel age; like a dove you sat on my roof, ate the grain and did not become tame; go away, stay away.
About This Recording
Kitna Nazuk Hai Dil — How Delicate the Heart Is — is a Hindustani song that belongs to the Indian film tradition that shaped Kabul's popular musical culture. The lament about the heart's delicacy (nazuk, delicate, fragile) is a complaint about design: a heart built so sensitively that it absorbs constant grief is not well-designed for survival.
'Alas, this cruel age, alas this cruel age' (afsus ye zaalim zamaana, afsus) — the refrain addresses the age (zamana) as a cruel entity, a common trope in both Persian and Urdu lyric. The age is what has produced the conditions for this grief; to lament the age is to identify a systemic rather than personal cause for suffering.
The dove image is the song's most specific and unexpected metaphor: 'Like a dove you sat upon my roof / You ate the grain and did not become tame.' The dove that eats and does not become tame is the beloved who accepts the speaker's care and provision without offering domesticity or loyalty in return. 'Go away, go away — stay away' is the conclusion reached from this observation — but the simplicity of the command belies how difficult it is to enforce. Doves return to roofs they know.
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