Word Meaning
यही
yahi
Meaning
This very thing, only this, just this.
Detailed Meaning
In Urdu and Hindi, 'yahi' functions as an emphatic demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this very thing' or 'only this'. In the couplet, it underscores that despite prolonged study in the heart's school of sorrow, the speaker has learned nothing more than a single, bare fact: the past is gone and merely was. It condenses the entire scope of a lifetime's grief into one stark, inescapable lesson.
Etymology
Sanskrit एष (eṣa) / Prakrit / Hindustani 'यह' combined with the emphatic particle 'ही'.
Usage
Frequently employed in classical ghazal to single out an ultimate realization, an inescapable condition, or an exclusive object of desire.
Examples
Only this remains of our ancient love.
Just this is the harsh custom of the world.