Ghazal 158, Verse 9

Nazm:

The first line is an exclamation of lamentation [inshaa-e ta))assuf] and the second is interrogative [istifhaam]-- in short, the whole verse is inshaa . The second excellence arises from the appearance of the whole name, with the title. From the word 'Khan' the meaning emerges that at one time [zamaanah] he had power and dignity, which old age erased. (171)

== Nazm page 171

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'Oh Asadullah Khan Bahadur, the revolvings of the time and the troubles of love have finished you off even before death. Now where is that fervor and turmoil, and where did that power and tumult of youthfulness go?' (227)

Bekhud Mohani:

Oh Asad, the time has erased you. In old age neither those howlings/tumults remain, nor that beauty and strength of youth. From saying 'Khan' there is a suggestion that in youth there was power and strength, which has now mingled with the dust. (305)

FWP:

SETS

The 'lamentations/tumults' and the 'youthfulness' may of course be two separate items that are simply listed together as they are recollected, but they may also-- more enjoyably-- be equational, as paraphrases of each other. Asad's youth, in short, consisted, at least in his (nostalgic?) memory, entirely of weeping, wailing, 'howling', and other kinds of generally miserable uproar. And not only that, but when he laments the losses caused by time, the only thing he remembers-- or at least regrets-- seems to be the fact that he's no longer capable of such youthful wild tumults of grief.

Nazm's observations, both about the inshaa))iyah force of the verse, and about the effect of the poet's using his full name, are exactly right. The full name also gives a kind of valedictory effect, as though his life were being summed up and memorialized at its close (though of course the poet was then in his thirties). For another such example, see {71,10}.