Ghalib's critics famously complained that his verse was incomprehensible. Hali observes that 'Mirza has here and there, in his Urdu and Persian divan s, alluded to this kind of nit-picking'; as examples, he cites the present verse and 175,6 ( Yadgar-e Ghalib , p. 112). Azad echoes these complaints (pp. 494-97, Ab-e hayat ). I've discussed the alleged incomprehensibility of his poetry in an article . Another comment on the subject by Ghalib takes the form of a very famous quatrain (Hamid 218, Arshi 339; also in Sarvar, p. 120 ): [my poetry is quite sufficiently difficult, oh heart repeatedly hearing it, accomplished poets request me to speak/compose easy [verses]-- 'If I speak/compose, it's difficult; and if I don't speak/compose, it's difficult' 'I speak/compose the difficult; otherwise, I speak/compose with difficulty'] The fourth line, in Persian, is framed with an uncapturably clever twist; its double translation reflects two ways of reading (as either 'and if not' or 'otherwise'). Needless to say, in speaking about his difficult poetry Ghalib was also speaking about it in a difficult way. In its scope the present verse could apply to all the speaker's speech, since , my 'idea' or 'words' or 'utterance', is not a concept limited to poetry. And it certainly works that way as a witty or desperate observation by the lover on the inexpressibly dire straits in which he finds himself. But Hali's observation is plausible, and it's certainly easy to imagine this verse as a wry reaction to a group of particularly obtuse and uncomprehending critics. As a final elegant touch, both and come from the three-letter Arabic root , 'to become altered or changed'. graphics/gibberish.jpg