FWP:
SETS
LIFE/DEATH: {7,2}
WINE: {49,1}
Raza p. 256; Raza p. 257. S. R. Faruqi's choices. Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of seven verses, from which he chose four for publication in his divan. In the original seven-verse ghazal, this verse was the fifth one.
In life I was 'killed' or 'struck' (down) or 'smitten' (with pleasure?) by a particular kind of relish (enjoyment, savor, with special overtones of 'taste'). This relish was 'of' death/oblivion (in some sense I experienced death even in life); or else, given the possibilities of the i.zaafat , it was 'for' death (I was always seeking and anticipating this 'relish'). So much for the first line-- and where will the verse go from here?
The second line, in 'A,B' style, starts afresh. Paradoxically, an empty glass bestowed on me a 'devastating' intoxication. (Considering at the range of meanings for ;Ga.zab , it's lucky that English has 'devastating', which has something like the same colloquial range and energy.)
And then-- one more wonderful, to-die-for complexity presents itself: is it 'that' empty glass [us], or 'this' one [is]? The two words look the same in normal orthography, and in Raza's and Gyan Chand's texts. But what a gorgeously effective difference! 'That' empty glass is surely the vision of death-- one that allures the speaker throughout his life, to the point not just of intoxication, but even of a 'devastating' intoxication.
But 'this' empty glass would be even bleaker. For it would then refer to this contingent, doomed, unfulfilling, 'empty' mortal life-- a life so obviously inadequate that it would itself engender a longing for death, for oblivion, to the point of a deadly intoxication and death-wish. Compare the two readings of idhar vs. udhar in {43,3}.
The idea that the empty glass is the most intoxicating one of all-- such an elegant Ghalibian paradox. The 'empty glass' here can't help but evoke the 'empty finger' of {50,2}.
Gyan Chand:
For my whole life I remained in a state of having given my heart to the pleasure of death/oblivion. The relish for death/oblivion is like an empty glass, but that empty glass kept me intoxicated for my whole life. (490)