1323_07

{1323,7}

jaise parchhāʾeñ dikhāʾī de ke ho jātī hai maḥv
mīr bhī us kām-e jāñ kā vūhīñ thā sāyah gayā

1) the way shadows, having become visible, become absorbed/effaced
2) even/also Mir, in just that way, was a shadow of that 'Desire of his Life'-- and went

Notes:

maḥv : 'Erased, effaced, obliterated; forgotten; abolished; annihilated; —overpowered (by), struck or astonished, thunder-struck; fascinated, charmed, captivated; mad (from love), distracted (with terror or grief); —engrossed, absorbed, rapt (in)'. (Platts p.1010)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

vūhīñ = in that way

To call oneself the beloved's shadow is an absolutely new theme. And the idea that it proves, is even more eloquent. That is, the moment the beloved departed, the lover's life-breath left him-- the way that the moment someone leaves, his shadow vanishes.

Then, the beloved's coming and going too was like that of a shadow. As though someone would be visible from a distance like a shadow, or should offer just a single glimpse and then vanish; and the glimpse would be so obscured that it would be like a shadow.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == [DEAD LOVER SPEAKS]
NAMES
TERMS

It's also effective that the beloved is referred to as a kām-e jāñ , one who was 'the desire of his life' for 'Mir'. The intensity and absoluteness of the phrase remind us that the range of meanings for maḥv includes the common colloquial sense of 'engrossed, absorbed, rapt' (see the definition above).

Perhaps when shadows disappear, it's not because they simply vanish or dissipate (and thus 'die'). Perhaps the shadows instead may merge rapturously, absorbedly, into the figure to whom they are so intimately attached. Perhaps when the shadow-Mir 'went' from our view, he did not simply die, but was somehow (mystically?) absorbed into his beloved.