کوئی ویرانی سی ویرانی ہے
Koī vīrānī sī vīrānī hai
What a strange desolation this is
مرزا غالب
کوئی ویرانی سی ویرانی ہے
Koī vīrānī sī vīrānī hai
What a strange desolation this is;
دشت کو دیکھ کے گھر یاد آیا
Dasht ko dekh ke ghar yaad aayā
Upon seeing the wilderness, I was reminded of home.
📖Metaphorical & Poetic Meaning
This is one of Ghalib's most famous and paradoxical couplets, a masterpiece of implication.
The Conventional Idea:
In poetry, the dasht (wilderness/desert) is the ultimate symbol of desolation, loneliness, and emptiness. In contrast, ghar (home) is the symbol of comfort, habitation (ābādī), and belonging.
Ghalib's Reversal:
The poet completely inverts this relationship. He says he is experiencing a unique and strange kind of desolation (koī vīrānī sī vīrānī hai). What is this strange desolation? It is that when he looks at the desert—the very definition of emptiness—it doesn't shock him. Instead, it merely reminds him of home.
The Implication:
The devastating conclusion is that his home is even more desolate than the wilderness. The loneliness and emptiness he feels at home (perhaps from a lost love, or a deeper existential dread) are so profound that the literal desert pales in comparison. The dasht is just a pale imitation of the vīrānī he feels in his ghar.