Ghazal 56, Verse 3

Nazm:

On the contrary, you ought to wander in the wilderness and roam in the desert, or seek the beloved-- it would be better to die than to endure this torment of waiting. (51)

== Nazm page 50; Nazm page 51

Bekhud Dihlavi:

To lie in bed waiting for the beloved, or waiting for sleep, is flagrant rest-seeking. The beloved's promise didn't imply that the lover should lie around luxuriously in bed. If the beloved hasn't come as promised, then one should search out the reason for her not coming. If the lover is in a state of absolute hopelessness, then he can pass the time absorbed in wine-drinking, desert-wandering, rending his garments, lamenting, and many other such tasks. And if even if a man should be simply lying in bed tossing and turning and waiting for sleep, there can be many pursuits possible in that situation. The meaning is that for every type of man, seeking rest is forbidden. (96)

Bekhud Mohani:

For the lover, only waiting for the beloved is a source of rest. Whence comes this lying around in bed?! (122)

FWP:

SETS == EXCLAMATION

The Persianized phrase naaz khe;Nchnaa often means 'to experience or receive coquetry', as in {71,5}. But it can also mean 'to practice coquetry', as in the present verse and {441x,2}. It thuscreates a perfect tone for scolding the heart-- 'Who told you to loll around luxuriously (and/or coquettishly or conceitedly) in bed?!'. (On the nature of the bistar , see {194,1}.)

Whatever the lover's heart should be doing, in short, it's not that. The heart has no right to pamper itself, and the lover's scolding rhetorical question in the second line sounds almost like a threat.

Bekhud Dihlavi offers an inventory of more suitable ways for the lover (and his heart?) to pass the time: the lover should engage in 'wine-drinking, desert-wandering, rending his garments, lamenting, and many other such tasks'. Waiting for the beloved, even endlessly if need be, should thus be full of unrelieved suffering, with no intervals of repose (unless the wine-drinking counts). The lover is indignant that his heart has sought to take a furlough and have a little nap. The charm of this entirely inshaa))iyah verse is the colloquial tone in which the lover scolds his dilatory heart. It's just how one would sarcastically reproach an intimate for laziness or negligence.