Where before there was the clear river, O Meer, / Now both appear as mere mirages.

This profound couplet speaks to the devastating nature of disillusionment. Mir Taqi Mir suggests that life once felt solid and tangible—like clear rivers flowing before your eyes. But time, or perhaps the passage of heartbreaks, has changed everything. Now, everything you perceive, whether it's a relationship, a promise, or even a beautiful landscape, is merely a mirage (saraab). It highlights the painful realization that what was once real, is now just an illusion.