Akhiyan Udeek Diyan
Khawaja Pervaiz and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (commonly credited) · Punjabi
CHORUS · WAITING EYES
Akhiyan udeek diya dil vajaa mar da
My eyes keep waiting, and my heart keeps calling out.
MeaningThe eyes and heart almost act independently: one watches for the beloved, while the other cries out. Repetition turns private longing into a communal refrain.
aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
MeaningThe plea is simple and immediate: not a promise of future happiness, just the beloved's presence again.
sajnaa tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Beloved, my eyes are waiting for you.
MeaningSajna is a warmly intimate way to address the loved one; the tenderness contrasts with the ache of continued waiting.
Akhiyan udeek diya dil vajaa mar da
My eyes keep waiting, and my heart keeps calling out.
aja pardesiya vaasta ii pyaar da
Come back, my distant love, for the sake of our love.
MeaningPardesiya evokes someone away from home or the beloved's reach. 'Vaasta' is an earnest appeal made in the name of something sacred or precious.
aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
sajnaa tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Beloved, my eyes are waiting for you.
dholnaa tenu akhiyan udeek diya
My darling, my eyes are waiting for you.
MeaningDholna is an affectionate Punjabi call to the beloved. The changing forms of address keep the refrain personal and musical.
VERSE 3 · TIRED OF WAITING
-RawaN tak tak thakh gayi aaN meiN
I've grown tired of watching the roads for you.
MeaningThe roads represent every possible route by which the beloved might return. Constant watching turns hope into exhaustion.
kaliaN reh reh ak gayi aaN meiN
I'm weary of living alone.
MeaningLoneliness has become a daily repetition. The singer is not only missing a moment of romance but tired of a whole way of life.
ik ik pal dil gin ke guzaar da
My heart counts every single moment as it passes.
MeaningEach moment is measured against a hoped-for reunion. The image captures how painfully slowly time moves during separation.
aaja pardesiya vasta ii pyaar da
Come back, my distant love, for the sake of our love.
MeaningThe invocation of love asks the absent person to honor their bond and return. Its urgency grows through repetition.
aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya-
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
Aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.
MeaningThe refrain reduces the song's elaborate imagery to its emotional core: please be here.
chetti aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come soon, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.
MeaningThe familiar appeal returns after the admission of exhaustion, giving the loneliness a direct object: the loved one's return.
VERSE 5 · EVEN THE WIND BRINGS FEAR
Poore di hawa chale dil mera dolda
When the easterly wind blows, my heart trembles.
MeaningA change in the wind stirs both memory and anxiety. Weather acts almost like a messenger from the absent beloved.
kamb kamb jawa jadoN kaaN kitte bolda
I shiver whenever I hear a crow call somewhere.
MeaningA crow's call can suggest someone coming home in Punjabi folk belief. The possibility of news sends a shiver through the waiting lover.
aawaiN te sunawaN meiN vichora kiwe marda
If you come, I'll tell you how separation has hurt me.
MeaningThe singer wants the loved one not only to return but also to understand the suffering that absence has caused.
aaja pardesiya vasta ii pyaar da
Come back, my distant love, for the sake of our love.
aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya-
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
chetti aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come soon, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.
chetti aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come soon, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.
VERSE 6 · THE CHILDREN ASK ABOUT YOU
-Tere waloN puchde ne galiaN de baal ve
The children in the streets ask me about you.
MeaningEven the neighborhood remembers the missing person. Private separation becomes visible in the ordinary social life around the singer.
gum sum howaN jedoN karde sawaal ve
I fall silent whenever they ask.
MeaningThe questions touch a wound the singer cannot explain. Silence conveys embarrassment, sadness and helplessness together.
marda ay taanay menu mausam bahaar da
Even the spring season seems to taunt me.
MeaningWhen others are celebrating renewal, the abandoned lover hears a cruel reminder that joy is passing without the beloved.
aaja pardesiya vasta ii pyaar da
Come back, my distant love, for the sake of our love.
aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya-
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
Aaja tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come back—my eyes are waiting for you.
chetti aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come soon, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.
chetti aaja dholna tenu akhiyan udeek diya
Come soon, my darling—my eyes are waiting for you.