Tags
Deewan-e-Ghalib, Ghalib, Jagjit Singh, Mirza Ghalib, Naqsh faryadi hai kis ki shokhi-e tahrir ka
Given below is another gem from Dewaan-e-Ghalib.
Naqsh faryadi hai kis ki shokhi-e tahrir ka
kaghazi hai pairahan her paikar-e tasvir ka
Against whose playful writing are the words complainants?
Made of paper is the attire of the countenance of every image.
[naqsh: mark, word; faryadi: pleader, crier; shokh: playful, mischievous; kaghaz: paper; tahrlr. writing; pairahan: attire, clothes; paikar: face, countenance, figure, mould, model, form, portrait, likeliness, an idol-temple; tasvir: forming, fashioning, painting, limning, picture, image, effigy, likeness, sketch, drawing.]
kavkav-e sakht jani hai tanhai, na(h) puchh
subh karna sham ka, lana hai ju-e shir ka
Inquire not of my forebearance to the incessant hammering in the loneliness.
Turning night into day is like unearthing a channel of milk.[kavkav: continuous beating of hard stone with a sharp object; sakht jani hai: ability to bear extreme agony—expressed as surviving the state of extreme commotion and agitation; ju-e shir: channel of milk. (Referring to the legendary lover farhad’s digging the channel of milk out of the mountain for King Khusrao, as a condition of having his wife, Shirin. ]
jazb’a(h)-e be ikhtiar-e shauq dekha chahiye
sin’a(h)-e shamshir se bahar hai dam shamshir ka
Worth seeing is the spirit of my uncontrollable desire,
Causing the edge of the sword to unfurl from its sheath.[dam: breath; dam-e shamshir: edge of sword.]
agahi dam-e shanidan jis qadar chdhe bichhae
muddaa unqa hai apne ‘alam-e taqrir ka
No matter how awareness spreads its nets of hearing,
The meaning is the nonexistent bird in the style of my expression.[agahi: awareness; dam: net; shanidan: to hear, listen, or attend to; muddaa: whatever is meant; unqa: legendary bird that does not exist (ala Unicorn). ]
baske hun Ghalib asiri men bhi atish zer pa
mue atish dida(h) hai halqa(h) meri zanjir ka
Whereas, even in bondage, there is fire under my feet, Ghalib,
The chains that bind me are merely curls of singed hair.
[baske: whereas; atish zer pa: impatient, cinders (fire) under feet; mue atish: heat-damaged hair (not burned), hair, singed, fragile; halqa(h): ring.]
This poem is recited in the TV serial ” Mirza Ghalib” produced in 1988. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqQrrwDIYdA
This is a very complex poem and we have tried to break it down so that you can enjoy the essence of it, but for a better understanding you can look at this translation as well: http://ghalibcollexion.blogspot.in/2012/06/naqsh-fariyadi.html
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