===
0667,
4
===

 

{667,4}

kab bandagī merī sī bandah karegā koʾī
jāne hai ḳhudā is ko maiñ tujh ko ḳhudā jānā

1) when will any servant/slave perform a servitude/slavery like mine?!
2) the Lord knows this: I knew/considered you the Lord

 

Notes:

S. R. Faruqi:

As proof of his considering a non-Lord to be the Lord, to present the testimony of the Lord himself is not without pleasure. The word 'servant' [bandah] too is extremely eloquent, because in it there's a suggestion that I am after all a servant of the Lord, but I consider the beloved to be my Lord. The affinities in the first line of bandagī and bandah , and in the second line of jāne and jānā , are also very fine. There's also an affinity between bandah meaning 'person' and bandah meaning 'slave'.

FWP:

SETS == REPETITION
MOTIFS == BONDAGE
NAMES == LORD
TERMS == AFFINITY

A lovely little study in wordplay and rhythmic repetition. The second line really swings, with its well-arranged sequence of jāne ... ḳhudā ... ko ... ko ... ḳhudā ... jānā . The effect is almost riddling, or like a shuffling of cards. Both the ear and the eye are intrigued by the patterning.

 

 
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