FWP:
It's a strange closing-verse to put right after a verse-set of fulsome praise to the King. Of course it can always be read broadly, to apply in a general way to the whole group of verses that he's been reciting; but the 'this' does tend to invite our attention toward the verse-set. It makes you wonder, once again, how such a verse really seemed to its composer, and to its audience. Would they be so used to such ghazal commonplaces of 'pain in the heart' that this particular juxtaposition would hardly even register? Would they be deeply conditioned by a lifetime of stylized ghazal language to eschew all personal interpretations? After all, if Ghalib expected the Emperor to take it personally, then to present it, even in the form of a private conversation with himself, would be a very foolish move on his part, since it would undo all the good that he might have hoped to do himself through the eulogistic verse-set. So perhaps we notice it more than the original audience did.
That wonderfully idiomatic kuchh gives
the whole second line an easy, colloquial flow. It makes for an effect of
judiciousness: he doesn't complain because of pain in his heart, he's used to that.
But today the pain is somewhat worse, somewhat excessive, beyond the normal
bounds. And the heart seems to have its own direct connection to the voice--
perhaps 'normal' pain makes the voice merely pain-filled, while this 'extra'
pain adds the effect of bitterness.
Ghalib:
[1858, to Taftah:] -- {177,13} -- Protector of servants!
First of all it is written to you that you are to convey my salaams in the service of my old friend Mir Mukarram Husain Sahib, and tell him that up till now I'm still alive, and beyond that I myself don't know my condition. (Arshi 321)
== Urdu text: Khaliq Anjum vol. 1, p. 280; for more on this letter see {150,1}