Verse 31858-1865amkyaa hai


G9

In this meter the next-to-last long syllable may be replaced by two shorts.


1
in poetry, the fire-scatteringness of Ghalib's pen--
2
even/also we are convinced of it! --but now, what breath/life is in it/him?

References
Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali Ghazal# 234
Raza, Kalidas Gupta 473-474
Gyan Chand 522
Hamid Ali Khan Open Image

An extra pleasure is the ambiguity of the in the second line: is there no breath left in the pen, or in the poet himself? This verse was composed in 1858; the poet died in 1869. graphics/firepen.jpg