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maqduur : 'What one is able to do or accomplish,' &c.; power, ability; capacity; --means, resources; --presumption, presumptuousness'. (Platts p.1055)
FWP:
SETS
MOTIFS == [LOVER AS BIRD]
NAMES
TERMS == THEMEThis is the first example we've seen of a verse in which the lover speaks as a bird. There are many others. The bird is almost the only non-human creature into which the speaker/lover inserts his own voice.
I agree with SRF-- reluctantly, because having two full-fledged possibilities would be even better-- that probably tah-e baal should be taken as 'with head hidden under wing' rather than 'on the wing'.
But what would the power of 'wing-and-feather-lessness' be? The chance to make a great show of weakness, and thus blackmail the strong? The ability to look out at the world philosophically, with less urge to project one's ego? An insight into the true nature of life? Perhaps the verse hints at some great missed opportunity-- that kind that's seen only when it's too late to use it.
Or perhaps there really is no such power-- rather than never 'testing' its capacity, the speaker literally never 'saw' it. Perhaps then the second verse is the cause, and the first the result, instead of the other way around. On this reading, it's out of despair that the bird hides its head under its wing-- because it realizes the futility of any attempt to act. But then, as SRF points out, in order to hide its head under its wing, the bird must have a wing, so in what sense is it wing-and-feather-less?
A verse like this, so submerged in 'mood' and melancholy, would never deign to answer such questions. It's the kind of verse you keep thinking you're just about to get a grip on, but then it slides away again. But it's got a kind of hypnotic appeal-- you always feel like trying again. So isn't that a form of irresistibility in itself?