Ghazal 185, Verse 1

{185,1}

gulshan ko tirii .su;hbat az baskih ;xvush aa))ii hai
har ;Gunche kaa gul honaa aa;Gosh-kushaa))ii hai

1) to such an extent your companionship has pleased the garden
2) every bud's being {a rose / extinguished} is an embrace-{opening/loosening}

Notes:

az-bas kih : 'To such an extent that; --inasmuch as, whereas'. (Platts p.154)

 

gul honaa : 'To be extinguished; to go out (a lamp or candle)'. (Platts p.911)

 

kushaa : 'Opening, expanding; displaying; loosening; ... revealing'. (Platts p.835)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Nazm:

That is, in the garden the roses that bloom open an embrace for you. (206)

== Nazm page 206

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'The garden has felt so pleased with its joy and gracedness at your companionship that the blooming of every bud is the opening of an embrace in ardor for you-- that is, out of the longing to be close beside you'. (267)

Bekhud Mohani:

The buds said this, or rather, in the ardor to unite with you they opened an embrace. (364)

FWP:

SETS

The opening out of a tight, compressed bud into a full, wide, blooming rose can readily be imagined as the rosebud's opening its petal-arms in its delighted eagerness to embrace the ravishing beloved. In a related idiom, the 'narrow' [tang] heart is sad or displeased (as in {31,2}), and its widening or opening is a mark of pleasure.

But in the case of the short-lived bud and even shorter-lived rose, such an embrace of welcome and delight can hardly fail to be also an embrace of farewell or leave-taking. On the rich possibilities of the 'embrace of leave-taking', see {57,6}. For an embrace is 'opened' to enfold the embraced one-- and then afterwards it is, however reluctantly, 'opened' or 'loosened' once again to release the embraced one. The 'opening' of the embrace of leave-taking is thus inherently ambiguous, and can hardly help but feel suffused with grief and loss.

Moreover, there's the cleverly prominent placement of gul honaa , 'to be a rose', which also idiomatically means 'to be extinguished', as in the case of a candle or lamp put out by a (rosebud-shaped) snuffer (see the definition above). The burning red radiance of the rose is often metaphorically identified as fire (for an example, see {75,1}, and the bud is shaped like the flame of a candle. Thus the idea that the bud's being 'extinguished' causes, or 'is', the opening or loosening of an embrace of the beloved, has a perfect romantic melancholy. This 'extinguishing' of the rosebud, whether through its morphing into a (short-lived) rose or through some more mystical attainment of oblivion, can hardly help but provide an enjoyably autumnal shiver.

 

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