Because of the refrain , 'did not remain', one might expect this whole ghazal to have an elegiac mood, looking backwards to the days when the lover was less ravaged and burnt out, so that he had more to bring to his passion, and could consider himself a more worthy offering to the beloved. But instead, look at the variety of the verses: in the first three, Ghalib does indeed ring changes on the mood of nostalgia, but after that, his thought veers off into other realms entirely. In the closing-verse , 41,8 , however, he refers to this opening-verse in a most unusual way, literally reproducing the second line. The present verse is one with an effect of simplicity, starkness, dignity, loss. All the meanings of -- a need, a longing, a supplication, a gift-- are appropriate here to express everything that the lover can no longer do. In theory, it's no surprise to the lover that he should 'lose' his heart; that's the name of the game, after all. But only after it's gone does he fully realize that the game in which he has had to stake his heart can't be played at all once the heart is gone. The wordplay is classically simple but appropriate, and serves to point up the paradox-- the lover had felt pride or coquetry, , about the depth of his humility and supplication and lover-like behavior, For a similar theme see 25,4 , in which the lover loses his heart even before the game gets started. And of course the general theme of progressive damage to the lover's heart, culminating in complete loss and death, is at the center of dozens of verses-- and of the ghazal world itself. graphics/lostheart.jpg