Kaf-e-afsos Malwati Hai Teri Paak-damani — Khwaja Haidar Ali Aatish
Meaning
Your immaculate purity makes us wring our hands in regret, having made the maiden of chastity dance in the garb of piety.
Explanation
This couplet gently points out a kind of pride hidden inside purity. The poet says your very chastity makes you wring your hands in regret. How? Because you dress the beautiful idea of innocence in the robe of piety and make it dance for show. In other words, when virtue becomes a performance, something meant to be pure, it loses its true grace. True purity should be quiet and unselfconscious. The moment you parade it, boast of it, or use it to feel superior, you betray it. So the regret is self-inflicted. The poet reminds us that real innocence needs no costume and no stage.
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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