Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai - I am like a bubble (Mir Taqi Mir)

Jio supnā ar pekẖnā aise jag kao jān.

In mai kacẖẖ sācẖo nahī Nānak bin bẖagvān. ||23||

Know this world is like a dream and a show. 

None of this is true, O Nanak, without God. ||23||

Jaise jal ṯe buḏbuḏā upjai binsai nīṯ.

Jag racẖnā ṯaise racẖī kaho Nānak sun mīṯ. ||25||

As the bubbles in the water well up and disappear again,

so is the universe created; says Nanak, listen, O my friend! ||25||

English Poetry Using the Bubble Metaphor

The metaphor of life being like a bubble is a common one in English literature as well and has been used in various poems throughout history. Here are a few examples:

"The Bubbles of the Foam" by Emily Bronte:

In this poem, Bronte compares life to the fleeting bubbles of foam on a river, emphasizing how quickly life passes and how easily it can be forgotten:

"Down the dimpled, dancing river,

With a rippling, shining motion,

With a whirlpool's leaping fury,

And a flashing, foam-born notion!

Life, like bubbles on the river,

Sparkling, changing, born and dying,

Lulled awhile from its wild motion,

Glitters, quivers, and goes flying."

"A Bubble" by Robert Frost:

In this short but powerful poem, Frost uses the metaphor of a bubble to represent the fragility and impermanence of life:

"A winter day

In a deep and dark December;

I am alone,

Gazing from my window to the streets

Below

On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.

I am a bubble,

An iridescent bubble,

Caught in a frozen web

Between the sun and moon."

"Life's Bubble" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

Wilcox's poem uses the bubble metaphor to emphasize the importance of living life to the fullest, as the bubble can burst at any moment:

"Life is but a bubble,

Fraught with every hue,

Born to shine and sparkle,

For a moment's view.

Then it bursts forever,

Leaving but a drop,

Its unbounded brightness

Blighted in a stop."