پھر کچھ اِک دل کو بے قراری ہے
phir kuchh ik dil ko be-qarārī hai
Again, there is a certain restlessness in the heart
مرزا غالب
پھر کچھ اِک دل کو بے قراری ہے سینہ جویائے زخمِ کاری ہے
phir kuchh ik dil ko be-qarārī hai siina jūyā-e-zaḳhm-e-kārī hai
Again, there is a certain restlessness in the heart; The chest is seeking a deep, mortal wound.
پھر جگر کھودنے لگا ناخن آمدِ فصلِ لالہ کاری ہے
phir jigar khodne lagā nāḳhun āmad-e-fasl-e-lāla-kārī hai
Again, the fingernail has begun to dig into the liver; It is the arrival of the season of tulips (blooming red wounds).
قبلۂ مقصدِ نگاہِ نیاز پھر وہی پردۂ عماری ہے
qibla-e-maqsad-e-nigāh-e-niyāz phir vahī parda-e-amārī hai
The direction of the object of my supplicating gaze... ...is again that same curtain of the palanquin.
چشم دلاّلِ جنسِ رسوائی دل خریدارِ ذوقِ خواری ہے
chashm dallāl-e-jins-e-rusvā.ī hai dil ḳharīdār-e-zauq-e-ḳhvārī hai
The eye is an agent for the goods of disgrace; The heart is a buyer of the taste of humiliation.
وہی صد رنگ نالہ فرسائی وہی صد گونہ اشک باری ہے
vahī sad-rang nāla-farsā.ī hai vahī sad-gona ashk-bārī hai
The same hundred-colored lamentation; The same hundred-fold shedding of tears.
دل ہوائے خرامِ ناز سے پھر محشرستانِ بے قراری ہے
dil havā-e-ḳhirām-e-nāz se phir mahsharistān-e-be-qarārī hai
Due to the desire for (her) elegant, coquettish walk, the heart again... ...is a doomsday-ground of restlessness.
جلوہ پھر عرضِ ناز کرتا ہے روز بازارِ جاں سپاری ہے
jalva phir arz-e-nāz kartā hai roz bāzār-e-jāñ-sipārī hai
(Her) splendor is again displaying its coquetry; It is the day of the marketplace of surrendering one's life.
پھر اُسی بے وفا پہ مرتے ہیں پھر وہی زندگی ہماری ہے
phir usī bevafā pe marte haiñ phir vahī zindagī hamārī hai
Again, we are dying for that same faithless one; Again, we have the same (old) life.
پھر کُھلا ہے درِ عدالتِ ناز گرم بازارِ فوجداری ہے
phir khulā hai dar-e-adālat-e-nāz garm bāzār-e-faujdārī hai
Again, the door of the court of coquetry has opened; The market of criminal cases is heated (busy).
ہو رہا ہے جہان میں اندھیر زلف کی پھر سرشتہ داری ہے
ho rahā hai jahān meñ andher zulf kī phir sirishta-dārī hai
Darkness (injustice) is spreading across the world; The tresses again have the official authority (magistracy).
پھر دیا پارۂ جگر نے سوال ایک فریاد و آہ و زاری ہے
phir diyā pāra-e-jigar ne savāl ek fariyād o āh-o-zārī hai
Again, the fragment of the liver has presented a petition; There is a complaint, and sighing, and lamentation.
پھر ہوئے ہیں گواہِ عشق طلب اشک باری کا حکم جاری ہے
phir hue haiñ gavāh-e-ishq talab ashk-bārī kā hukm-jārī hai
Again, the witnesses of love have been summoned; The order for shedding tears has been issued.
دل و مژگاں کا جو مقدمہ تھا آج پھر اُس کی رُوبکاری ہے
dil o mizhgāñ kā jo muqaddama thā aaj phir us kī rū-bakārī hai
That lawsuit between the heart and the eyelashes... ...today, it is being heard again.
بے خودی بے سبب نہیں 'غالبؔ' کچھ تو ہے جس کی پردہ داری ہے
be-ḳhudī be-sabab nahīñ 'ġhālib' kuchh to hai jis kī parda-dārī hai
This state of selflessness is not without cause, 'Ghalib'; There is definitely something that is being covered up.
📖Metaphorical & Poetic Meaning
This ghazal is a deeply psychological map of relapse into obsessive love. Ghalib uses two major extended metaphors to describe this state:
The Season of Wounds
In the early verses, Spring—traditionally a time of joy—is subverted. The red tulips (lāla) remind him of fresh wounds. His fingernails digging into his own liver is a visceral image of self-inflicted emotional pain that comes with the 'season' of madness.
The Courtroom of Love
The latter half of the ghazal brilliantly employs legal terminology. Love is depicted as a cruel, unjust court (adālat-e-nāz). The beloved's dark tresses hold the 'magistracy' (sirishta-dārī), implying corrupt officials spreading 'darkness' (injustice). The heart and liver are petitioners filing complaints (savāl). Tears are summoned as 'witnesses' (gavāh). The final verdict is always against the lover, resulting in an 'order' (hukm) for more weeping.
The Philosophical Climax
The final couplet (Maqta) moves beyond the love affair. Ghalib muses that his state of be-ḳhudī (oblivion/mystical rapture) is not random. It suggests a confrontation with a Truth so overwhelming—perhaps divine, perhaps nihilistic—that it must be kept hidden (parda-dārī) from the conscious mind.
📖Glossary of Highlighted Words
▶️Listen to the Poem
Sung by Abida Parveen