Mirza Ghalib

This Ghazal of ghalib is about love and pain, when one is away from his beloved and is remembering the times he spent together. The mood of the ghazal takes you one step further where one renounces not just love but also the world around and is tired of everything that is happening to him in his life. An emotion probably ghalib was going through in later period in life around 40- 50.

woh firaaq aur woh wisaal kahaaN ?
woh shab-o-roz-o-maah-o-saal kahaaN ?

[ firaaq = separation, wisaal = meeting, shab = night, roz = day, maah = month, saal = year ]

1. koee ummeed bar naheen aatee
No hope comes my way

koee soorat nazar naheen aatee
No visage shows itself to me

2. maut ka ek din mu’ayyan hai
That death will come one day is definite

neehd kyon raat bhar naheeh aatee?
Then why does sleep evade me all night?

3. aage aatee thee haal-e-dil pe hansee
I used to laugh at the state of my heart

ab kisee baat par naheen aatee
Now no one thing brings a smile

4. jaanta hoon sawaab-e-taa’at-o-zahad
Though I know the reward of religious devotion

1. aa ke meri jaan mein qaraar nahin hai
Come that my soul has no repose

taaqat-e-bedaad-e-intazaar nahin hai
Has no strength to bear the injustice of waiting

2. dete hain jannat hayaat-e-dahar ke badale
Heaven is given in return for the life of this world

nashshaa baa_andaazaa-e-khumaar nahin hai
But that high is not in proportion to this intoxication

3. giriyaa nikaale hai teri bazm se mujh ko
Such longing has come from your company

haaye! ki rone pe ikhtiyaar nahin hai
That there is no control over my tears

1. Ye na thee hamaree qismat ke wisaal-e-yaar hota
it was not in my fate to meet my lover

agar aur jeete rehte yahee intezaar hota
had I lived longer, this would still be my only desire

2. Tere waade par jiye ham to ye jaan jhoot jaanaa
to live on your promise is to make my life a lie

ke khushee se mar na jaate agar ‘eitabaar hota
would I not have died of happiness if i trusted it

3. Teree naazukee se jaana ke bandha tha ‘ehed_booda
from your frailty I learnt that the promise was delicate