In some manuscripts and editions, the last word of the first line appears as instead of . As always, I follow Arshi; and in this case it's clear that his reading also makes for a better meaning. This verse is a classic example of what I call symmetry: it offers 'A is B' statements in such a way that, given the flexibility of Urdu grammar, 'B is A' is another legitimate and equally apparent reading. This verse is amost the ideal example in fact, because each line does this trick, and the two lines do it in reverse order. If we set out to read 'A is B', then in the first line we get 'wineflask is cypress' (1a); and in the second line, we get 'raincloud is glory of wine-wave' (2b). In other words, if we want to create the obvious directional parallelisms between the lines (by moving, initially, from the wine-drinking toward the garden), we must read one line as 'A is B' and the other as 'B is A'. This is what Nazm and Bekhud Mohani (and other commentators) readily do. In other words, if anyone had any doubt that the same construction could be read either way around, the commentators' matter-of-fact demonstration of this flexibility should remove all doubts. Then, since both lines can go both ways, we also can pair the other readings, (1b) and (2a), and we get the reversal: something about the garden is equated with something about wine-drinking. On this reading, the verse praises not the verdant glories of wine-drinking, but the intoxicating glories of spring. And reversing the expected order of comparison also cleverly evokes the confusing synesthesia of intoxication. Faruqi helpfully catalogues the verse's complex kinds of wordplay . This verse can't help but recall 49 , since that whole ghazal has 'wave of wine' as a refrain . graphics/cypress.jpg