FWP:
SETS
INDEPENDENCE: {9,1}
JALVAH: {7,4}
LIGHTNING: {10,6}
MUSIC: {10,3}
In the first line we learn that the self is searching for a mu;Gannii , a singer and/or an 'independence-maker' (see the definition above), who will have a breath, or spirit, or essence, of fire. This is a tall order! We look forward to clarification in the second line. And do we get it? Not exactly; but we get some fascinating abstraction-play instead.
If we pursue the 'singer' image (as the commentators generally do), then we're offered the vision of a singer whose 'breath' or essence is fire, such that his/her voice would 'strike' the hearer like a bolt of lightning, and bring oblivion. Don't we have here an echo of Moses seeking to experience God's presence on Mount Tur? In Qur'an 28:29, after all, Moses's experience begins with the sight of a 'fire'; he approaches it, and then hears the Voice from a tree nearby. And in {36,5}, the speaker complains that a single lightning-flash before the eyes was unsatisfactory-- he wanted from the beloved 'speech', a conversation, a voice, as well. In the present verse, the speaker wants a voice that will resemble, or act as, or actually be, the 'lightning of oblivion'. A voice that slays its hearer with its first sound? A voice that is to the ears, through a sort of synesthesia, what lightning is to the eyes (and to the whole body, if it strikes directly)? A divine Voice that gives the long-desired command of oblivion, and thus releases one from the wretchedness of mortal life?
If we pursue the alternative sense of mu;Gannii as one who renders one rich or independent, we emphasize the idea of fire and lightning rather than that of sound. That 'independence-maker' whose very essence is 'fire' would naturally be able to 'call' or summon (or even 'invite'?) the speaker, with a single stroke of the 'lightning of oblivion', out of the world entirely. And what could possibly be a greater 'independence' or 'wealth' than such a complete escape?
There's also the wonderful multivalence of the final 'to me'. It can be read as meaning that all this lightning-striking would be done 'to me' (as opposed to being done to someone else). But it can also be read as rendering the whole verse radically subjective: I may long for someone who would be the most desirable beloved in the world 'to me'-- meaning, not necessarily to you. If I long for someone whose call would be a lightning-strike 'to me', the implication can quite well be that this is a private matter, and perhaps no one else would experience it in the same way. In fact it might not even be a voice or call; it could be merely an 'echo' that would affect me so strongly.
Of course, the subjunctive verb grammar itself makes it clear that no such
person or entity has (yet?) turned up.
Nazm:
That is, the self wants an experience of hearing such that a state of 'oblivion to the self' [fanaa fii))l-;zaat] would occur.... But to say in a verse 'let this be so, let that be so' makes the verse loose. If, on the contrary, he had brought this theme into the expression, and said, 'your voice is to me the glory/appearance of the lightning of oblivion', then it would give more pleasure. (157)
== Nazm page 157