Verse 8x1816aakaruu;N
G3
1
I am such a secret/mystery of lament that, with the commentary of the gaze of weakness
2
through a 'dust-sprinkle' of collyrium, I would make a page/account/' individual-verse ' of a voice
'An exposition, explanation, interpretation, a running commentary (on a work or text), annotation; description'.
'Powerlessness, impotence, weakness, helplessness, submission, wretchedness'.
'A hemistich, a verse; couplet (being the half of a four-line stanza); a single sheet or strip (of paper); a piece, fragment; the outer fold (of a quilt, &c.); a draft (of an account); a register, record, statement, account-sheet; a list, roll, catalogue'.
'Echo; sound, noise; voice, tone, cry, call'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 84 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 202 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 140-142 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 161-162 |
| Gyan Chand | 258-260 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
I am a unique secret/mystery of my lament. And I am such a secret that for the commentary of the gaze of weakness I will sprinkle the dust of collyrium on the page of my voice. That is, I will protect the secret to such an extent that on the page of the voice too-- the work of which is the expression of secrets-- I will sprinkle the dust of collyrium; I will make it 'collyrium-throated' [] and ineffective.
== Asi, p. 162
He says that 'I am such a secret/mystery of lament that I do not lament with my voice, but I look with such weak, strengthless glances-- the way the page of a voice (for the voice, with regard to its spread, the metaphor of a page has been used) becomes sprinkled with collyrium dust (the collyrium that has been put in my eyes); and from that, the cloudiness of my heart can be known. That is, my silence and weakness of glance are a single 'lament' made of thousands of laments and complaints.
== Zamin, p. 229
For ornamentation, they sprinkle on a piece of paper water of gold, silver, or some other color. The marks of ornamentation are called 'dust'. They call such a piece of paper a 'dust-sprinkle' []. Collyrium is the enemy of the voice. He says, 'I am such a secret/mystery of lamentation, that on the page of the voice I will scatter collyrium-dust'-- that is, the voice will not emerge. Why? For commentary on the weakness of the gaze, to remain silent is itself a great weakness. The intention is that because of weakness I am absolutely not lamenting. I am entirely silent. I have turned my lament into a secret/mystery.
== Gyan Chand, pp. 259-60
For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices . For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in 4,8x .
This verse has the same basic structure as do 84,6x and 84,7x .
On the natural enmity between collyrium and the voice, see 147,1 ; on collyrium in general see 44,1 .
The verse mingles literary imagery (commentary, decoratively 'dust-sprinkled' page, piece of paper, ' individual-verse ') with use of the senses: the (audible) lament, the gaze, the voice.
But does it really cohere into much of a meaning? The elaborate chains of metaphors become so far-fetched that we can hardly tell how to read them; most crucially, given the wide spectrum of possibilities, how should we interpret ? The possibilities range so far that they make the verse feel loosely structured and floppy.
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