bekasii-afsurdah huu;N ai naa-tavaanii kyaa karuu;N
jalvah-e ;xvurshiid se hai garm pahluu-e hilaal
1) I am forlornness-benumbed, oh weakness, what can I do?!
2) through the radiance of the sun, the side of the crescent-moon is warm
be-kasii : 'Forlorn state, friendlessness, destitution'. (Platts p.204)
afsurdah : 'Frozen, frigid, benumbed; withered, faded; dispirited, dejected, low-spirited, melancholy'. (Platts p.62)
He says, oh weakness, in the world there are other weak ones too, like the crescent-moon. The side of the weak crescent-moon remains warm from the rays of the sun. But who would think about my benumbedness and weakness, and who would warm my side, until my sun-beauty (beloved) would take pity on my wretched state? Now tell me some plan, such that she would have pity on your and my state.
pahluu garm honaa = to be seated, enthusiastically, in company. Oh weakness, I am benumbed by forlornness. To the crescent-moon is vouchsafed the radiance of the sun, but I have no companion, no favor-bestower. The crescent-moon too is weak like me, but at its back is a very great power.
SETS
JALVAH: {7,4}
SUN: {10,5}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
When we initially encounter the first line, we read afsurdah in its most common sense, as 'dispirited, melancholy' (see the definition above); that's the obvious reading to be paired with 'forlornness'.
The second line then starts out entirely afresh, by talking about the moon. The crescent moon is within a few days of its monthly fade into nothingness; its shape is hollowed-out, it looks pallid and 'weak'. But beside it, 'on its side', filling it with light and warmth, is the full power of the sun.
We're left to connect these 'A,B' lines for ourselves, with no help whatsoever from the verse. Of course, we realize that the lines are contrasted: the moon has a powerful, radiant, 'warm' friend and supporter, while the speaker does not. Lacking the 'warmth' of the beloved's presence, the speaker, in his 'forlornness', is not just sad but actually (as we belatedly realize) chilled, frozen, benumbed. What would the solar system be without the sun? It would be full of dark, weak, benumbed planets, traveling on random paths to nowhere. It's not hard to see the analogy.
Asi:
Oh weakness, after all, what can I do?!-- my forlornness has made me so benumbed! The sun is near the moon, and is warming its side, but my beloved is not near me; thus I am benumbed. Here the opposition of warm and benumbed is enjoyable.
== Asi, p. 152