S. R. Faruqi:

The mending/darning of the rip in the heart is a common theme, but to stitch up the rip in the heart by means of the eyelashes is Mir's own invention. Even more novel/extraordinary than this is to say that the mending of the rip in the heart is so delicate that the task cannot be done by the eyelashes.

A bit earlier in this same divan, Mir has composed the theme of the mending of the rip in the heart by the eyelashes, like this [{1029,5}]:

palkoñ se rafū un ne kiyā chāk-e dil-e mīr
kis zaḳhm ko kis nāzukī ke sāth siyā hai

[with her eyelashes she mended the rip in Mir's heart
what a wound, with what delicacy, she has stitched up!]

In the present verse it's being said that to stitch up the wound of the heart, a needle as thin as a hair is required. But it ought to be strong as well. The needle with which you are doing the mending-- how in the world will it last?! It is as frail and weak as a hair. In the second line it's been said that the rip in the heart cannot in any case be mended by the eyelashes, because in the mending of the heart's wound a very light hand is necessary. If you thrust in your eyelashes to mend the wound in the heart, then inevitably the whole weight of the head will be applied to the threads, and this is not suitable.

By nāzuk rafū is meant mending that would be done by a very slow, gentle, and light hand, that would be done without any jerking. In'amullah Khan Yaqin has a verse,

laboñ par zaḳhm ke jī ā rahā hai mat nikal jāʾe
ḳhudā ke vāst̤e kījo nihāyat yih rafū nāzuk

[to the lips of the wound, my life is coming-- may it not emerge [into death]!
for the Lord's sake let this mending be supremely delicate]

It's clear that here too the point is the same-- do the mending very slowly and gently, with a light hand. Otherwise if there is a jerk then the life, which is quivering on the lips of the wound, will depart.

Mir has also used the theme of the delicate mending in one other place, which verifies this interpretation. From the third divan [{1125,10}]:

ḍartā hūñ chāk-e dil ko mire palkoñ se siye
nāzuk naz̤ar paṛī hai bahut us rafū kī t̤arḥ

[I fear the ripping of my heart, which had been stitched up by the eyelashes
the style of that mending appeared very delicate]

From these usages it can be guessed that perhaps some type of mending/darning might have been called nāzuk , but this doesn't appear in any dictionary. In any case, the meaning is clear-- a kind of mending that would be done slowly and gently would be called nāzuk .

In our time, weak blood vessels in the heart are replaced by healthy ones. This surgical procedure is called a 'coronary artery bypass graft'. For the sewing of the blood vessels a special kind of small, extremely delicate needle and very fine but strong thread are used. In Mir's time there was no surgery on the heart, but Mir's creative ingenuity, and probably some medical knowledge more or less, has perhaps bestowed on him some mental awareness of the medical practice of two hundred years later-- as can be guessed as well in

{114,1},

and

{1058,7}.

FWP:

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The excellent word rishtah , meaning 'thread' and also 'relationship' (see the definition above), gives us an elegant little shove toward an additional, metaphorical reading of the verse: 'The harm you've done to my heart-- don't think that you can repair it simply by batting your eyelashes! Our relationship is in real jeopardy, and if the damage can be repaired at all, the process will require great care'.