kahuu;N kyaa dil kii kyaa ;haalat
hai hijr-e yaar me;N ;Gaalib
kih betaabii se har yak taar-e bistar ;xaar-e bistar hai
1) how would I say what the state of the heart is,
in separation from the beloved, Ghalib!
2) for from restlessness, every single thread of the bedding is a thorn
in the bedding
He says, oh Ghalib, how can I describe what state my heart's in, in separation from the beloved! To put it briefly, from my constant writhing my bed has become so full of wrinkles that every single thread of the bedding has become, to the touch, a thorn in the bedding. (278)
Oh Ghalib, what can I say about what happens in separation from her! To put it briefly, when I lie alone in the bedding, every thread of the bedding seems to be a thorn. That is, I constantly writhe, and can't find rest in any position-- as if I am writhing on thorns. (384)
SETS == INEXPRESSIBILITY
SOUND EFFECTS: {26,7}
For discussion and examples of kyaa kahuu;N , see {15,11}.
What delightful, echoing internal rhyme in the last line, with the extended sequence of taar-e bistar ;xaar-e bistar ! It gives the feeling of cycling back and rolling over on itself, and thus helps enact the idea of restlessness, of tossing and turning. Think of the pleasure of hearing this one at a mushairah. It's not rocket science, this one-- Nazm just lets it pass in silent disdain. But then-- not every enjoyable verse has to be rocket science. It's fun to recite, and makes a fine thumping conclusion for what is often a highly baroque and cerebral ghazal.
Here every thread of the bedding is a thorn-- while only two verses ago, in {194,4}, it was nothing less than a ray of the sun of the dawn of Doomsday. Is this a great genre, or is this a great genre?
Nazm:
[This is one of the very few verses about which Nazm offers no comment.]