har gaam aabile se hai dil dar tah-e qadam
kyaa biim ahl-e dard ko sa;xtii-e raah kaa
1) with every step, {from blister[s] / like a blister},
the heart is beneath the footstep
2a) what fear/terror do the people of pain/sympathy have, of the harshness
of the road?
2b) what fear/terror the people of pain/sympathy have, of the harshness
of the road!
2c) do the people of pain/sympathy have fear/terror, of the harshness of
the road?
biim : 'Fear, terror, dread; danger, risk'. (Platts p.211)
dard : 'Pain, ache; affliction; pity, compassion, sympathy; affection'. (Platts p.511)
Raza p. 116; Raza p. 117. S. R. Faruqi's choices. Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of nine verses, from which he chose five for publication in his divan. In the original nine-verse ghazal, this verse was the third one.
Whose every step is it, and whose heart? And should aabile se be read as 'from blisters' (taking aabilah as a kind of collective noun), or as 'like a blister' (taking se as short for jaise )? The first line thus yields several possibilities:
= with every step the beloved takes, the lover's heart is
under her foot like a blister (out of devotion and concern for her feet)
= with every step the lover takes, his heart is under his foot like a blister
(his heart has 'sunk' as far as possible, because his spirits are so low)
= with every step the lover takes on his blistered feet, his heart is underfoot
(the passion in his heart keeps him going despite the pain of his blistered
feet)
Then if we look (hopefully, but already half-resigned) to the second line for clarification, we find a gloriously all-purpose kyaa construction, with all three modes fully activated. The people of pain/sympathy thus have (2a) absolutely no fear of the harshness of the road (the idea is repudiated with a rhetorical question); or else they have (2b) a remarkable amount of fear, such that their heart is under their feet (the way we'd exclaim 'my heart was in my mouth'); or else there's a question (2c) as to whether they have fear or not.
And not only that, but the beautifully chosen dard invokes either one's own 'pain', or one's 'sympathy' and concern for the pain of another (in this case, the beloved).
Gyan Chand:
The road is harsh and full of pain. The feet have become blistered, but because of the blisters the heart is fallen into the blisters themselves. If this would be taken in the dictionary meaning, then it's as if the heart has been bound beneath the blisters. Then what trouble can there be from the blisters? The heart is doing the work of a bandage for the blisters. The people of pain have no fear of the harshness of the road. (103)