FWP:
SETS
HOME: {14,9}
MUSIC: {10,3}
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 For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.
On the distinctiveness of this ghazal, see {211,1}.
At the center of the verse is the striking word kuuk , which has not been used in any divan verse; it should surely be considered a 'fresh word'. Platts gives it a feeling of despair (see the definition above), while Zamin and Gyan Chand insist on a musical sense (presumably related to the idea of a bird's 'warble' or 'trill'). But even among bird calls, Platts's first example is that of a peacock, and anybody who has ever heard peacocks calling knows the eerie wildness of their cry. In the context of the verse such a sound works perfectly, taking our minds back and forth between a musical tone and a cry of desolation.
Also at the heart of the verse's wordplay is saaz , an excellently multivalent word; its possibilities are exploited even more elaborately in {147,2}. Almost all of its possibilities (see the definition above) work well in the context of the verse.
The commentators are right-- a 'waterfall of melody' is a wonderful construction. It takes our imaginations in directions that partly converge, and partly diverge.
In {15,10} Zamin has chosen the perfect verse for comparison. Much of the discussion of that verse will apply to the present one as well.
On 'heart-lessness', see {8,2}.
Asi:
My heart-lessness is the foundation of leisure/freedom, and for me the musical instrument of that enjoyment of heart-lessness is my house-desolation. And that flood is the cry of the voice of the house-instrument of melody, which is a source of enjoyment.
== Asi, p. 261