Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. tilok chand mahroom (1887-1955) and his son jagan nath azad are an illustrious father-son team of urdu shu’ara. From miaNvaali (now in pakistan), they migrated to India in 1948, after unsuccessfully trying to remain in lahore. This Ghazal is modeled after Ghalib’s ‘jigar tak utar gaii’.
1
is ka gila¹ nahiN ki duaa be-asar² gaii
ek aah³ kii thi vo bhi kahiN jaa ke mar⁴ gaii   1.complaint 2.without effect, ineffective 3.sigh 4.a conversational expression meaning went somewhere and disappeared
I do not complain that my prayers went unanswered but even my deep sigh “went somewhere and got lost”. Is he talking about the beloved or about god.
2
aye ham-nafas¹ na poochh javaani ka maajraa²
mauj³-e nasiim⁴ thi idhar aaii udhar gaii     1.friend 2.predicament, condition, happening, story 3.wave, gust 4.morning breeze
O friend, do not ask what happened to my youth. It was like a gust of morning breeze that blew from there and blew away over there. Fleeting youth.
3
daam¹-e Gham²-e hayaat³ meN uljhaa⁴ gaii umiid⁵
ham ye samajh rahe the keh ehsaan⁶ kar gaii     1.net, web, trap 2.sorrow, pain 3.life 4.entangle 5.hope 6.kindness, favour
In traditional urdu poetry life is nothing but pain to be borne to prepare for the next “real” life. Here it seems that even ‘hope’ is not good. It gets you entangled in the web of life i.e., attracts you to material things in this world – maaya moh. We were under the impression that it (hope) had done us a favour (the implication is that in reality it is only a distraction).
4
is zindagi se ham ko na duniya mili na diiN¹
taqdir² ka mushaaheda³ karte guzar⁴ gaii   1.duniya-diiN used together usually mean material-spiritual, life and after-life 2.fate 3.examine, disentangle 4.passed
This life/world gave neither material nor spiritual rewards. It passed through (was spent) even as we examined the workings of our fate.
5
anjaam¹-e fasl-e-gul² pe nazar³ thi vagarna⁴ kyuuN
gulshan⁵ se aah⁶ bhar ke nasim-e-sahar⁷ gaii    1.end, result 2.season of flowers i.e., spring 3.sight 4.otherwise 5.garden 6.sigh, long drawn out sigh 7.morning breeze
Perhaps the morning breeze had its sight on what would happen at the end of spring. That is why it drew a long deep sigh as it departed the garden.
6
bas itnaa hosh¹ thaa mujhe roz-e-vidaa²-e dost³
viraana⁴ thaa nazar⁵ meN jahaaN tak nazar gaii    1.awareness, knowledge 2.day of departure 3.friend, beloved 4.desolation 5.sight
All that I was aware on the day of the departure of the beloved was desolation as far as the eye could see.
7
har mauj¹-e aab²-e sindh³ hui vaqf⁴-e pech-o-taab⁵
mahroom⁶ jab vatan⁷ meN hamaari Khabar⁸ gaii     1.wave 2.water, river 3.pakistani homeland of the poet 4.dedicated to, entrusted 5.restless (like waves) 6.pen-name of the poet 7.homeland 8.news
Every wave of the rivers of sindh became engrossed in restlessness, O mahroom, when news about me reached the homeland.