Ghazal 123, Verse 4

Nazm:

That is, if having known me as your lover you practice negligence then there would also/even be some hope of mercy coming. But such a glance of non-acquaintance is poison for me. (132)

Hasrat:

In 'knowingly practice negligence' too a kind of pleasure is hidden. (103)

Bekhud Dihlavi:

'Having known'-- that is, having understood-- if you avert your eyes from me intentionally, then hope for mercy can be maintained. But to look with such a glance of unfamiliarity is, for me, not less than poison. (185)

Bekhud Mohani:

You neglect me; I don't forbid this. But do it after having considered me as your lover, so that I can hope that if not today, then sometime mercy might come. But a glance like that of strangers is, toward me, poison. (248)

FWP:

SETS == BHI
GAZE: {10,12}

There's a three-way wordplay and meaning play in this one: between knowing [jaan'naa]; neglecting or ignoring [ta;Gaaful karnaa]; and [making] erroneous judgments [;Gala:t-andaaz]. And as Hasrat points out, the juxtaposition of 'knowingly practice negligence' [jaan kar ta;Gaaful kiije] makes an enjoyably paradoxical effect.

In particular, ;Gala;T-andaaz has an elegant range of meanings. These include:

=she doesn't recognize me at all; her eye passes over me as if I were a stranger

=she sees me as vaguely familiar, but thinks I am somebody else

=she recognizes me, but has a mistakenly low opinion about me, and thus ignores me

What the lover begs for is the reassurance of knowing that she's ignoring or neglecting him knowingly, deliberately, with malice aforethought, because if she's taken that much trouble, she's at least not indifferent. Another verse along the same general lines: {148,2}.

I can't feel much enthusiasm for this verse; it's too one-dimensional and prose-paraphraseable. The sam doesn't have any affinity with the rest of the verse (though it does rhyme nicely with ham -- but is that enough?). That's what really seems a deficiency. Compare this verse to {123,1}, to see the complexity that it lacks.