===
0002,
2
===

 

{2,2}

kis raat na:zar kii hai suu-e chashmak-e anjum
aa;Nkho;N ke tale apne to vuh maah-jabii;N thaa

1) on which night have I turned a gaze toward the {winking / looking askance} of the stars?
2) beneath my eyes, {then / after all} , was that moon-{faced/'foreheaded'} one

 

Notes:

chashmak : 'Winking, a wink; looking askance (at), coldness, misunderstanding'. (Platts
p.433)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

There's no need to read apne as apnii [to go with the feminine aa;Nkhe;N]. In Mir's time grammar rules hadn't been so fixed that such things had to be kept in mind on every occasion. [A discussion of how reversed word order-- aa;Nkho;N ke tale apne rather than the normal apnii aa;Nkho;N ke tale -- often means that the adjective in reversed position is treated as masculine.]

The wordplay between 'stars' and 'moon-forehead' is clear; the wordplay between aa;Nkho;N and na:zar and chashmak too is worthy of attention. The meaning of chashmak can be 'to wink at' or 'to look askance at', for example in enmity or rivalry; here both these meanings are present.

In Persian, the k ending is often used to show belittlement or disdain: mard becomes mardak , for example, and mur;G becomes mur;Gak . In this regard, chashmak can also mean 'little tiny eyes'. That is, because of the stars' brightness they can be given the simile of eyes, but those eyes are very small and cannot rival the beloved's bright, beautiful eyes. There's also an affinity between 'eye' and 'forehead'.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == EYES; GAZE
NAMES
TERMS

As SRF points out, the various possibilities of chashmak are excellently operative here. The twinkling stars are a petty, negligible version of what the speaker already has available literally before his eyes-- flirtatiously 'winking' beauty, and/or a cold or hostile regard.