S. R. Faruqi:

The opening-verse is by way of introduction, but it's not devoid of interest. For ((ajab :tar;h pa;Rii hai is a very fresh expression. Its meaning is probably for a strange affair, situation, etc. to befall. But :tar;h pa;Rnaa isn't in any dictionary. [Discussion of its nonexistence in Persian as well.]

The second line is interesting, since the uninterestingness of the story, or its being displeasing to the listener, or its containing some improper thing, is not within the speaker's area of discussion. His only fear is that the story is long-- may it not weigh heavily on the beloved's sensitive/touchy temperament! And kahaanii yih ba;Rii hai is also fine, since he hasn't said anything about the story, he has only called it 'this'-- as though everyone would understand which story, and whose story, is meant.

In this 'ground' Mus'hafi has a double-ghazal, and Sauda too composed a ghazal. Sauda's ghazal deserves to be counted among his best. He too perhaps felt that this ghazal had turned out to be superb, because he boasted in the closing-verse,

go piir hu))ii shaa((irii saudaa kii javaano
tum se nah khi;Nchegii yih kamaa;N sa;xt ka;Rii hai

[although Sauda's poetry has become elderly, oh youths,
you will not be able to string this bow-- it is severely tough]

But in general, neither Mus'hafi's double-ghazal nor Sauda's ghazal is of a rank equal to Mir's. The way Mir has, in this very ghazal, versified the theme of the ka;Rii kamaan , suffices to prove my point [{1044,9}]:

khi;Nchtaa hii nahii;N ham se qad-e ;xam-shudah hargiz
yih sust kamaa;N haath par ab kitnii ka;Rii hai

[it absolutely cannot be drawn by a bent-statured one like us
this slackly-strung bow-- now, how tough it is on the hands!]

If this verse were in Sauda's or Mus'hafi's ghazal, then it would be considered a masterpiece. In Mir's ghazal, this is a good enough verse, because two verses [after the present one] that I have included in the intikhab are of a much higher rank than this one.

FWP:

SETS == FILL-IN; INEXPRESSIBILITY
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

The first line tells us nothing except that the speaker is waffling around, at a loss for words, unable to decide how to convey his plight-- even to us, much less to anybody else. His situation is really beyond words; his plight thus embodies the 'inexpressibility trope' so convenient in a poem fifteen or twenty words long.

Even in the second line, his problem is neither resolved nor even clarified. We learn only that 'that' temperament is a hair-trigger one, while 'this' story is vast (and probably burdensome to the listener). That really isn't much to learn, in rational terms. But on the other hand, it's enough for us, because each small poem is so well enabled by the ghazal universe that surrounds it. And of course such an abstract framework also invites us to fill in the nature of 'that temperament' and 'this story' as we like.