Ghazal 215, Verse 3

{215,3}

chaal jaise ka;Rii kamaan kaa tiir
dil me;N aise ke jaa kare ko))ii

1) 'a gait like an arrow from a fully-bent bow'
2) in the heart of such a one, let someone make a place

Notes:

ka;Rii : 'A ring or circle (of metal), link (of a chain)... a manacle, handcuff, fetter'. (Platts p.832)

Nazm:

An 'arrow from a fully-bent bow' flies very swiftly; he has given it as a simile for the beloved's carelessness/indifference of gait. And the first line of this verse, the whole thing, is an idiom; and in the second line is a negative rhetorical question-- that is, in the heart of such a one can there be any place? (244)

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, a place cannot be created in the heart of such a beloved, whose carelessness/indifference of gait has the similitude of an arrow from a fully-bent bow. The whole of the first line is a complete idiom. To the extent to which the bow is tightly drawn, to that very extent the arrow will be swiftly-flying. (303)

Bekhud Mohani:

Appropriateness [bar-jastagii] prostrates itself before the first line.... From out of the gathering of the lovers the beloved passes with such swiftness and carelessness/indifference, the way an arrow would emerge from a fully-bent bow. (440)

FWP:

The beloved's gait is like the swiftest and deadliest arrow, so it will instantly 'make a place' for itself in the hapless lover's heart. And for that very reason, the process is intransitive: the lover is now doomed and in the bag, a prey of the swift hunter-- thus the enjoyable secondary meaning of ka;Rii as 'manacle' or 'chain-link'. So can he even imagine anyone, not to speak of himself, who could reverse the process and make a place in the hunter's own heart?

For the colloquial possibilities of the second line, compare {215,1}. It could be an expression of wistful hope ('may someone succeed!'); or of scornful denial ('as if anyone could succeed'); or a genuine question ('would anyone be able to do it?').