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Recitation

وہی  تشنہ  لبی  ہے  ساقی  ۔  آلِ  احمد  سُرورؔ

۱

آج  پی  کر  بھی  وہی  تشنہ  لبی  ہے  ساقی

۲

تیرے  ہر  جام  میں  اک  طرفہ  نشہ  تھا  شاید

۳

لا  تری  بزم  میں  کچھ  اور  چراغاں  کر  دوں

۴

چاندنی  شیشے  سے  سینوں  میں  اُتر  آئی  ہے

۵

ہے  فروغِِ  مئے  گلوں  کہ  ترا  عکسِ  جمال

۶

تیرے  میخانے  پہ  اِلزام  نہ  آجائے  کہیں

۷

میں  نہیں  وہ  جو  ہر  اِک  شیشے  سے  ساغر  بھر  لوں

۸

آج  سمجھیں  نہ  اِسے  شیخ  و  برہمن  نہ  سہی

۹

کج  کلاہی  ترے  رندوں  کی  نظر  میں  نہ  جچی

۱۰

منتظر  ہے  مری  اک  وادیِ  پُر  خار  سُرورؔ

वही तिश्नालबी है साक़ी– आल-ए अहमद सुरूर

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Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. aal-e ahmad suroor (1911-2002) academic, critic, writer, editor and poet. MA in English and urdu literature. He taught at aligaRh and lakhnau universities, serving as head of the department of urdu at aligaRh. He was associated with, if not an active member of the Progressive Writers’ Association. His poetic compositions tend to be thoughtful and philosophical. This Ghazal is linked to ham-radeef Ghazaliyaat on the Refrain Index page.

aal-e ahmad suroor (1911-2002) academic, critic, writer, editor and poet.  MA in English and urdu literature.  He taught at aligaRh and lakhnau universities, serving as head of the department of urdu at aligaRh.  He was associated with, if not an active member of the Progressive Writers’ Association.  His poetic compositions tend to be thoughtful and philosophical.  This Ghazal is linked to ham-radeef Ghazaliyaat on the Refrain Index page.

1.thirst, state of longing 2.favours, benevolence

Today, even after drinking, the thirst remains; the poet suggests an insatiable desire or spiritual (or perhaps poetic) yearning.  There you are holding back your favours or there is some defect in your wine, O saaqi.  Who is the saaqi and what does this signify.  Let us take saaqi to mean the server of mystic wine.  If this saaqi does not show favours, then the mystical yearning of the seeker remain unfulfilled, thirst unquenched.  The saaqi could also be poetic inspiration in which case the poet is not entirely satisfied with his creativity.

1.cup 2.rare, wonderful 3.intoxication 4.perhaps 5.style, gesture 6.stagger, incoherence, going astray, straying from the straight path

Perhaps each cup carries a unique/different intoxication; every style of my bahakna – incoherence is new, O saaqi.  The shaa’er speculates that perhaps there is no defect in the wine/inspiration that the saaqi is serving, but the style of his ash’aar (he refers to them tongue in cheek as ‘incoherence’-bahaknaa) is new.  Alternatively, if bahakna is taken to mean going astray – the unique cup of the saaqi induces yet new ways of transgression, going away from the straight and narrow of orthodoxy.     

1.gathering 2.illumination, brilliance 3.bosom, heart 4.fire, passion 5.suppressed, hidden

Let me add more brilliance to your gathering; there’s still fire/passion buried in my bosom/heart. This fire is both creative and emotional, suggesting poetic inspiration and inner passion waiting to erupt.  Perhaps there is a subtle suggestion that HIS poetry will add more brilliance than other shu’araa have managed to do.

1.hearts 2.wave 3.wine 4.act/magic of revealing beauty

Moonlight, filtered through glass (of wine), pours into the hearts (of the audience in the bazm. Is it the effect of the ripples of wine or the magical effect of you revealing your beauty, O saaqi.  Thus, the magical effect of the beauty of his ash’aar penetrates the hearts of the audience.

1.brilliance, radiance 2.wine 3.rose coloured 4.reflection 5.beauty, glory

Is it the radiance of the wine or a reflection of your beauty? A fairy dances in the glass.  This is the glass (ash’aar-Ghazal) in which wine is served; it is radiant, there are fairies dancing in the glass; not just because of the brilliance of the wine but also because of the reflection of the beauty of the inspiration provided by the saaqi, because of hidden meaning that the shaa’er has folded into the wine-ash’aar.

1.tavern 2.blame 3.share, portion 4.thirst

Let not your tavern be blamed, but I’m still left thirsty. The poet is still not satisfied with what he has created and presented, but does not want to blame the tavern/mushaa’era.

1.goblet 2.offered a drink

I am not one to fill my goblet/cup from any bottle. I only drink when you offer. It’s a declaration of spiritual or artistic fidelity, true intoxication comes only from the right inspirations/source.

1.understand, know, accept 2.tavern 3.dignity, reverence

The tavern is a symbol of universalism free from narrow orthodoxy or rituals.  Let the orthodox (shaiKh and brahmin) not understand or accept this today, but your tavern deserves high respect. A defense of mystical or poetic ecstasy against religious rigidity.

1.slanted cap, defiance or arrogance 2.wine drinkers 3.eyes 4.accepted, suited 5.treasurey 6.defect

Arrogance (symbolized by the slanted cap) didn’t appeal to your humble drinkers.  Whose arrogance?  This is left ambiguous.  It is unlikely that the saaqi’s arrogance is implied.  It can be still about the orthodoxy … the shaiKh and the brahmin.  Is this the shortcoming in your treasury that the orthodox are still arrogant?

1.waiting 2.valley, plains, world 3.full of thorns 4.willing, inclined towards 5.hundred 6.coquetteries, charms

The poet’s life (perhaps his poetic/creative life) is described as vaadi-e pur-Khaar a thorny trajectory.  But it is inclined towards displaying hundreds of charms. The vaadi-e pur-Khaar goes along with the thirst that the poet has been feeling.  Thus, implied here is an appeal to the saaqi to irrigate his valley with more inspiration, slake his thirst.  Alternatively, and perhaps better – it is the saaqi who is aamaada-e sad-ishva gari.  Thus, the poet is thirsty in a thorny valley, waiting for wine (inspiration to compose verse) from the saaqi and the saaqi is teasing him with a hundred charms.

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