This is the third verse of a seven-verse verse-set ; for discussion of the whole verse-set, see 169,6 . Like the previous verse, this one is built on strong and obvious parallelism-- which makes small differences all the more piquant and noticeable. Most conspicuously, while the musician uses his 'melody'-- his proper professional equipment-- to destroy the listeners, the Cupbearer doesn't use its counterpart, the 'wine' which it's his duty to serve, and which has been alluded to in 169,6 . Instead, it's his , that favorite Ghalibian word: officially it means 'appearance', but in fact it means 'glorious appearance' or 'glory'. Thus this verse pursues the 'eye vs. ear' parallel lines of 169,7 , and even in the same order. The Cupbearer thus does double duty, so that the sensual trio of 'wine, women, and song' of English carousal can be reduced to a pair. The Cupbearer provides both wine and beauty-- very probably the androgynous beauty of a boy who hasn't quite reached puberty-- and the musician provides melody; usually the 'musician' is a placeholder for both songs and instrumental music. graphics/musician.jpg