Only the hands were clever with their tricks before, but now many strings remain in the throat's cage.

This poignant couplet speaks of the fading brilliance and the loss of self-control. Mir Taqi Mir suggests that the cunning and effortless mastery (चालाकियाँ) that once resided freely in his hands have now become confined. The 'strings in the cage' symbolize limitations—skills or freedoms that are no longer used naturally, but are merely remnants, trapped by time or circumstance. It is a deep meditation on the passage of time and the fading of youth's sparkle.