Ghazal 23, Verse 3X

Asi:

In the rose-season, the aspect of fire has become different, and its color/style has changed. The rose is not really a rose-- rather, the candle, taking the lamp of the rose, is searching for its 'thorn'. By 'thorn of the candle' is meant the wick of the candle; or else the candle, taking the lamp of the rose, is searching for the thorn in its foot.

== Asi, p. 59

Zamin:

He says that in the spring season since the nature of fire has changed and become a rose (the pleasure/subtlety is that the word 'rose' the meanings of fire and flower are mixed together). That is, fire has become a flower; now the occasion is that when the candle searched for its wick then it took the lamp of the rose (flower, and also the flame of a candle) and began to search for it, since for light it was unable to acquire fire, nor in the tumult of spring was there any sign of a thorn-- so much so that the wicks of the candles too had become roses.

== Zamin, pp. 44-45

Gyan Chand:

The red color of flowers is called the aatish-e gul ; for this reason the flower is given the simile of a lamp.... In the springtime fire has attained a different color/style; that is, it has become manifest as the aatish-e gul . The candle thought, 'Come on, in this fire let's light our wick too'. Thorns are usually found in the garden. Thus the candle has come into the garden and is searching for its wick. Since in some plants from the abundance of leaves there can be darkness in some corner, there's a need for the light of something like a torch. The candle, taking the lamp of the rose, went in search of a wick/thorn. It's necessary in any case for the wick of a candle to be lit, because this itself is the nature of a candle.

== Gyan Chand, p. 82

FWP:

SETS == BASKIH
CANDLE: {39,1}
SPRINGTIME: {13,2}

For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices. This verse is NOT one of his choices; I thought it was interesting and have added it myself. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.

The wick of a candle can be called its 'thorn'; on this see {73,2}. But sometimes the 'thorn' remains a metaphor, so that it's distinct from the wick itself, as in {39,1}. That seems to be the second situation imagined by Asi, in which the candle has a painful 'thorn' lodged in its foot (the situation depicted in {73,2}). In either case, the candle needs fire-- to light its wick/'thorn', or to help in extracting the 'thorn' from its foot.

Fire has so changed its 'color/style' in the 'color-season'-- as the first line emphatically points out-- that it causes the candle to use not a torch but the 'fire of the rose' as an actual source of light. Has all the fire in the world now turned into the red brilliance of roses, so that there's now no other source of flame in the world than the 'fire of the rose'? As the hapless, unlighted candle wanders in the garden, it seeks to recover its own essential nature as a fire-bringer-- but now that fire is so changed, can the candle possibly compete?

Compare Mir's chiraa;Gaan-e gul in M{1289,5}.