Ghazal (Untitled)
Even in prayer, we are so unfettered and self-examining;
In case the door of Kabla was not open, we would just come back
(instead of knocking and seeking admittance)
Everyone accepts your claim for being unique,
No idol, reflecting you as a mirror, can come face to face with you
The compliant which does not reach the lips leaves a mark on the heart;
The drop of water that fails to become a river is simply food for dust on
earth.
If, at the time of telling, blood does not flow from each eyelash,
The story would not be of love merely (but simply as) the story of Hamza.
If it cannot see the entire Tigris in a drop and the whole in a part,
Such an eye would merely be a child’s game, not the eye of a wise man
Commentary
(Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan)
Note: A literal translation from “Ghazals of Ghalib - versions from the Urdu”, edited by Aijaz Ahmad.
Translations might not be the best way to read and comprehend Ghalib but nonetheless each couplet in this ghazal has the strength to stand-alone and spur thought that carries us deep into ourselves. The last couplet I thought summarizes the essence of the ghazal, quite well. Seeing the whole in the part, of part being the whole, of the part being nothing if it does not signify the whole.
My favourite parts are, of prayer being reduced to another effort of man’s justifications of existence and about how the power of a love story and oneness is not really powerful enough unless it brings bloods flowing as tears.
Pure, mad passion. Ghalib for you.
Seema
[Martin adds:]
Being unfamiliar with ghazals, I took the unusual step of asking the discussion group for suggestions and useful links before I ran this. Many thanks to Gary Blankenship and Salima Virani for their help and input. The comments after the last four links are Gary’s.
Links
[broken link] http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5570/shers.html
links to a biography of Ghalib and a definition. Seema notes that while
the biography is uncredited, it is by Aijaz Ahmad, from the foreword of
"Ghazals of Ghalib"
http://www.ghazalpage.net/information/links.html
a zine for ghazals, the link above is to their link page and actually the only one you need
http://web.umr.edu/~gdoty/poems/essays/ghazals.html
a good essay, also with good links
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/ghalib/ghazal.def.html
perhaps the best essay
and [broken link] http://www.ahapoetry.com/ghazal.htm
for what is a list of oriental links without one by Jane Reichhold