===
0071,
1
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{71,1}

raah-e daur-e ((ishq me;N rotaa hai kyaa
aage aage dekhiye hotaa hai kyaa

1) in the road of the {era / going-around / authority} of passion, {do you / does he} weep?!
2) ahead, ahead-- wait and see what there [habitually] is!

 

Notes:

daur : 'Going round, moving in a circle, revolving; revolution (of a body, or of time); circular motion; the going round, or circulating (of wine); the cup handed round; the coming round in turn (of days or times); vicissitude; —repetition (of a lesson); a kind of argument, reasoning in a circle; —circumference, perimeter; circular enclosure; border (of a garment, &c.); circle, circuit; orbit; circuit of rule, compass, jurisdiction, power, authority, dominion, sway; —a period of years, time, age, cycle; a turn, tour, round, course, progress; a turn or twist (of a rope, &c.)'. (Platts p.532-33)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

The first line of this verse is generally well-known as ibtidaa-e ((ishq me;N rotaa hai kyaa . But the correct, and better, reading is the one from the [Abbasi/Mahfuz] text. The affinity that exists between aage aage and raah-e daur , doesn't exist between ibtidaa-e ((ishq and raah-e daur .

In the verse there's a subtle ambiguity about the addressee. 1) The speaker is conversing with himself. 2) The speaker addresses some other person. 3) The person who is being discussed is not present; others are commenting about his situation. In the second line there's also a touch of arrogance. And there's also a suggestion that having moved on further, one won't even be able to weep. He's composed a fine verse.

[See also {1577,1}.]

FWP:

SETS == EXCLAMATION; MULTIVALENT WORDS ( daur )
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

The verse is insha'iyah to the max, and its exclamatory force emphasizes its tone of disdain and dismissal. Because that refrain of kyaa is so conducive and inviting, all the verses in the ghazal have a similarly colloquial exclamatory quality, with generally a tone of expostulation and impatience in the second line.

Then that aage aage works so well, and is to untranslatable! Is it a distributive expression (at different times in the future, different disasters will manifest themselves)? Or is it purely intensifying (not in the past, not now, but in the future!). I know that 'ahead, ahead' doesn't do the job at all, but still it's the closest that English and I could come to reflecting the actual structure of the line.

The enjoyably multivalent possibilities of daur also help to complicate the verse (see the definition above). Another daur example: {220,1}.

Compare Ghalib's own famously ominous verse about the future:

G{208,12}.