baa;Ndhnaa: 'To fasten together, put together, join, connect, conglomerate, unite, gather, pack, set... e.g. ma.zmuun baa;Ndhnaa...; to build, construct (dam, bridge, &c.); to compose (verses).
havaa: 'Air, atmosphere, ether, the space between heaven and earth; --air, wind, gentle gale; --a gas; --flight; ...rumour, report; --credit, good name; --affection, favour, love, mind, desire, passionate fondness; lust, carnal desire'. (Platts p. 1239)
havaa baa;Ndhnaa: 'To make a name; --to boast, brag; --to invent; to romance'. (Platts p.1239)
He says, having given for your steed the simile of the breeze, we {boast of / invent} our theme-writing. Otherwise, your steed is swifter than the breeze. (163)
By calling your steed the breeze, its honor is not increased. Rather, in that way we establish the coin of our elegance of expression. (215)
SETS == POETRY; WORDPLAY
Because of its refrain, this whole ghazal plays on the verb baa;Ndhnaa, literally 'to bind', which counts among its numerous derived meanings that of 'to compose', as in to compose verses. For another such striking example, see {29}, which has the refrain of baa;Ndhaa. When poets versify/'bind' something, they incorporate it both into poetic language (usually through metaphor or simile) and into a line of verse. The only verses that don't use this poetic meaning at all are {108,7} and {108,8}.
And then, look at all the secondary wordplay as well! People 'tie' (or 'bind') a horse with a tether-- but we also 'tie' your horse in the sense of 'binding' or incorporating it into a verse. The horse is versified or 'bound' as the breeze-- and who can bind the breeze?
Then we have the two words for breeze, .sabaa in the first line and havaa in the second. The word havaa, with its related meanings of wind and love and desire, is surely the pivot around which the verse turns. (For very similar patterns of wordplay, see the next verse, {108,2}.)
The idiomatic sense of havaa baa;Ndhnaa works perfectly for the poet's purposes: we boast of our poetic theme, we invent our poetic theme. But if we read the words literally, we also versify/'bind' the wind, or the desire, of a theme. And is it the desire 'of' a theme in the sense of 'the desire belonging to a theme', or in the sense of the poet's desire 'for' a theme?
Thus the juxtaposition of havaa baa;Ndhnaa becomes so complex and enjoyable-- who can 'bind' the wind, or love, or desire? who can versify the wind, or love, or desire? And yet that's exactly what we, the poet, do. We invent our themes, and we boast of them. And if we're Ghalib, don't we have a right to?
Nazm:
That is, giving for the steed the simile of the breeze, we {boast of / invent} elegance of expression. (112)