huraan-e-khuld mein teri surat magar mile.
Line 1/2 - We would not cry over the lack of comfort, if the taste of your sight is available. But for your face be available among the fairies of heaven. The poet says he can put up with grief and hardship, provided a glance of your face is available for that would give me joy. But here even in heaven, I am not at peace for there is no face among the countless hoors that matches your face and other pleasure of heaven don't interest me.
apni gali mein mujhko na kar dafan baad-e-qatal,
mere pate se khalaq ko kyon tera ghar mile?
Line 3/4 - Don't bury me in your street after you have killed me.Why should my final resting place be the landmark that leads everyone to your house. The poet says that my grave don't bury me in your street for my grave would become a place to guide unknown travelers to your house. This would bring you ill-repute. People would say, the here is the grave of Ghalib and murderer is also here in the same street. Another way of reading it is in the poet's state of jealousy. Okay you kill me! but don't buy me here for why others use my grave to find your house.
saqi gari ki sharm karo aaj warna ham,
har shab piya hi karte hain, mai jis qadar mile.
Line 5/6 - You should be ashamed of your cup bearer-ship today. otherwise we still drink every night, however much we get it. The poet says to the bartender, that you should be ashamed of limiting the wine you are providing me, for I pretty much drink every night at my home, whatever I can get. At my home, I have little but still have so much to drink daily and here I am at a tavern but still I am not being provided to heart's content. O! shame on you bartender!
tujh se to kuchh kalaam nahin lekin ai nadim!
mera salaam kaheyo agar naama-bar mile.
Line 7/8 - I have no question/word for(against) you but my friend!. Say my greetings if you see the messenger. The poet talking to an acquaintance says, that if he meets the messenger tell him that he has no complaints against him, and convey my greeting to him. The messenger probably in his loud rhetoric may have impressed the poet of his skills in eliciting a response from the poet's beloved. But now the messenger seems to have gone missing for he could not get a reply for the beloved. The poet in this bit taunt, says convey to the messenger my greetings.
tum ko bhi ham dikhaenge majnun ne kya kiya,
fursat kashaakash-e-gham-e-pinhaan se gar mile.
Line 9/10 - We can also show you what majnun did, but first I should get respite from the dilemma of the hidden grief. The poet say that he could have done what majnun did (i.e. wandering into the desert), But I can not for I am gripped by the internal struggle. My grief is more hidden unlike his and it's a dilemma. I am torn by the complexities of this world, the rigors of life & living. My grief are not on similar plane as majnun.
laazim nahin ke khizar ki ham pairwi karen,
maana ke ek bazurg hamen ham safar mile.
Line 11/12 - It is not necessary that we follow in the footsteps of the Khizar. We think we have took a respectable and wise elder as a fellow traveler. Khizar is a mystical figure inspiring many sufi saints. The poet says, It's not necessary that we follow him. In the path to True Truth, we will assume that we have acquired a learned fellow traveler with us. In this journey my way is no less important than the Khizar's way.
ai saaknaan-e-kucha-e-dildaar dekhna,
tum ko kahin jo ghalib-e-aashufta sar mile.
Line 13/14 - O! residents living in the street of my beloved, keep an eye, for you may run into Ghalib somewhere there with his disordered head. The poet says, people living in the street of the beloved, look out for you could find the love crazed and mad Ghalib! What a sight it will be!
Meaning of difficult words -
taskin - satisfaction, comfort
zauq - taste
huraan - hoors (fairy)
khuld - paradise
khalaq - world, all creations
mai = wine
saaqi-gaari = bartender
kaalam = word, composition
naadim = friend
naama-bar = messenger
kashaakash = struggle, dilemma, perplexity
pinhaan = hidden, concealed
saakinaan = dwellers,residents
kucha - street
aashuftaa_sar = mentally deranged
Read more posts on Ghalib.
taskin - satisfaction, comfort
zauq - taste
huraan - hoors (fairy)
khuld - paradise
khalaq - world, all creations
mai = wine
saaqi-gaari = bartender
kaalam = word, composition
naadim = friend
naama-bar = messenger
kashaakash = struggle, dilemma, perplexity
pinhaan = hidden, concealed
saakinaan = dwellers,residents
kucha - street
aashuftaa_sar = mentally deranged
Read more posts on Ghalib.
