याँ ख़ाक का बिस्तर है गले में कफ़नी है वाँ हाथ में आईना है गुल पैरहनी है
— Bahadur Shah Zafar
Meaning

Here, there is a bed of dust and a shroud around the neck, while there, a mirror is held in hand and a dress made of flowers is worn.

Explanation

This couplet paints a heartbreaking contrast between the two distant worlds of the lover and the beloved. Here, on the lover's side, lies utter devastation—sleeping on bare earth and clothed in a shroud, consumed by the grief of longing. Over there, the beloved lives in radiant luxury, admiring their own charm in a mirror and dressed in robes delicate as flower petals. It is a poignant picture of love's painful imbalance, where one is dying in devotion while the other remains blissfully lost in self-adornment.

Interpretation note: meanings and explanations may be AI-assisted and should not replace a primary text or scholarly edition. See the editorial policy.

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