Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. mirza jaafar ali KhaaN asar lakhnavi (1885-1967). Classical education at home until the age of 11, then formal schooling and college to BA. Indulged in MA and LLB but did not finish. Served in the British government as Deputy Collector (1909), Executive Officer and Collector until 1940. Resigned from service. Several collections of his Ghazal and nazm including descriptions of nature in kashmir where he served in the cabinet and also as acting prime minister (until 1945) to the maharaja. He also did a versified translation of the bhagwad-giita. This Ghazal, modeled after Ghalib’s ‘naqsh faryaadi hai kis ki shooKhi-e tahriir ka’, is linked to Ghalib naqsh-e qadam.
1
shauq¹ meN sann² ho gaya tha dil tere naKhchiir³ ka
varna⁴ siinah taan kar yuN zaKhm⁵ khaata tiir ka    1.passion, desire 2.stunned, dazed 3.prey 4.otherwise 5.wound
I am your prey in the hunt and my heart was stunned with passion, otherwise, would it have taken the arrow’s wound on his broad chest. The naKhciir/prey is the poet/lover himself. Normally, the prey tries to escape the shots of the hunter but he was stunned and, in a trance, unable to figure out that he was targeted. Otherwise, would I have taken your arrow directly on my chest. This is a bit unusual. Usually, in poetic convention the prey is proud to take the arrow on his chest.
2
Khat¹ ko rakh kar saamne jo shukr² ke sajde³ kiye
khiNch⁴ gaya maathe’⁵ pe naqsha⁶ aap ki tahriir⁷ ka     1.letter 2.gratitude 3.prostration, bowing 4.drawn, etched 5.forehead 6.imprint, design 7.writing
Placing your letter before me, I bowed in gratitude so much that your words imprinted/etched themselves onto my forehead. People who pray, bow down in prostration, regularly sometimes get a permanent haematoma stain on their forehead. The poet reverently worships the beloved’s letter, giving it equivalence to ritual namaaz.
3
ruKhsat¹-e guftaar² hai aur taaqat³-e diidaar⁴ hai
aap se baRh⁵ kar huN shaida⁶ aap ki tasviir⁷ ka    1.permission 2.speech 3.strength 4.sight, looking 5.more than 6.devoted, infatuated
It gives me permission to speak, I have the strength/capacity to look at it, even more than of you, I am an admirer of your image. The poet highlights a paradox: his devotion to the beloved’s image overshadows direct interaction, suggesting the many ways that the beloved disallows him access to her. She does not allow him to speak and is much too dazzling for him to bear to look at her.
4
munqalib¹ jo qabr² hai jo kaasa³-e sar chuur⁴ hai
kaarnama⁵ hai jafa⁶-o-jaur⁷-e charKh⁸-e piir⁹ ka    1.overturned, shattered 2.grave 3.bowl 4.broken, shattered 5.feat, accomplishment 6.cruelty 7.oppression 8.heavens, fate 9.old, ancient
This grave that is dug up and turned upside down, and skull like a begging bowl that is shattered, this is the work of the ancient heavens’ cruelty and oppression. The poet is talking about his own grave and offering the upturned grave and shattered head as evidence of the cruelty of fate towards him.
5
dil saraapaa¹ aarzu² tha ab saraasar³ dard hai
voh amal⁴ tadbiir⁵ ka tha yeh likha taqdiir⁶ ka     1.head to toe, completely, entirely 2.desire 3.end to end, entirely 4.action, deed 5.effort, strategy 6.destiny
My heart, once the embodiment longing, is now consumed by pain; those actions were of planning, and this is destiny’s decree. The poet thinks that his act of aarzu was a matter of choice, and the pain that resulted from the unfulfilled aarzu/desire is the inevitability of fate. It is a bit unusual for the poet/lover to think that he had a choice in his desire.
6
hasrat¹-e diidaar² asiiri³ meN bhi itni hai asar⁴
chashm⁵-e hairat-zaa⁶ hai har halqa⁷ meri zanjiir⁸ ka     1.yearning, longing 2.sight, meeting 3.captivity, imprisonment 4.pen-name 5.eye 6.full of wonder, astonishing 7.circle, link 8.chain
Even in captivity, the yearning for the sight of the beloved is so intense, O asar, that every link of my chain becomes an eye filled with astonishment.