Oft In a S(t)illy Night: अक्सर शब्-ए-अडवानी में

Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmed translated Thomas Moore's Oft, In a Stilly Night into Urdu. In my opinion, Mirza's translation is among the few where the verses gained in translation, and did not, as it often happens, lose the spirit, imagery or the pathos of the original. Reshma's voice did the rest, it's a melody that grows on you. A rare song where enchanting and haunting become one. And L.K. Advani never knew it was written for him.

Here is Sir Thomas's original:
Oft, in the Stilly Night

Oft, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me;
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood's years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm'd and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain hath bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.