gar dikhaa))uu;N .saf;hah-e be-naqsh-e rang-e raftah ko
dast-e rad sa:tr-e tabassum yak-qalam inshaa kare
1) if I would show a page without the design/print of departed color
2) the hand of rejection might/would entirely/'one-pen' compose the line/delineation of a smile
naqsh : 'Painting; colouring; drawing; designing, &c.; — delineation; — embroidery; — a painting, a picture; portrait; drawing; a print; a carving, an engraving; ... a design; — an impression; a stamp; a mark'. (Platts p.1145)
radd (which the verse spells as rad ): 'Returning; restitution; rejection, repulsion; casting off, turning back, averting; resistance, opposition; disproving, refutation'. (Platts p.590)
sa:tr : 'Ruling (lines); delineating; describing; — a line, lineament, row, rank, series'. (Platts p.661)
inshaa : 'Writing, composition; the belle-lettres; elegance of style; style, diction'. (Platts p.93)
rang-e raftah = color that has gone away. At one time, on the page of life was the color of the page of my temperament. Now that has gradually been going away, and the page has become blank. If I would show this page, then a rejecting hand will write on it the line of a smile. dast-e rad = a hand making a sign for something to stop. The hand of opposition smiles and says, 'Now these were departed colors-- they will not be available again, and your page will remain blank and colorless'. That is, the radiances that were in our life in the past-- there is now no possibility of obtaining them.
SETS == FILL-IN; GESTURES
WRITING: {7,3}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
On yaq-qalam and other expressions compounded with yak , see {11,1}.
Apparently the speaker no longer has a vivid, colorful 'page' of life such as he once possessed. Instead he might have a blank page, or one with only plain writing on it (rather than a lavishly illustrated page like those in Mughal albums). But why, and how, and to whom, might he 'show' such a page? The possible showing remains a gesture-- an unexplained, uninterpreted action which doesn't even take place, and about which we can only speculate.
Instead of providing clarity, the second line offers another, even more uncertain gesture. The speaker himself speculates that if he would show such a colorless page, then the 'hand of rejection' might/would draw the outline of a smile. Whose would be the 'hand of rejection', and what kind of a 'smile' might it be?
Gyan Chand offers the most obvious interpretation: that the speaker would hold up the colorless page as a sign of complaint, and then fate or destiny might use the 'hand of rejection' to reject the complaint-- by depicting a sarcastic smile at its absurdity. But other possibilities are not hard to imagine. Perhaps the speaker would hold up the colorless page in inquiry, or in indignation, or beseechingly, or in foolish pride (showing off his now-colorless writing). Perhaps the 'hand of rejection' might be that of the beloved, or of public opinion, or even of gossip. Perhaps the smile might be compassionate, or amused, or annoyed, or indifferent. We're left to make unusually many choices for ourselves.
The verse also offers a nice line in wordplay about writing: .saf;hah , naqsh , sa:tr , qalam , inshaa .
Another sa:tr-e tabassum verse: {406x,3}.
Zamin:
For the smile, with regard to its extent and drawn-out quality, he has made the metaphor of a line [p. 415]. As for the rest, let the meaning of the verse be as it is.
== Zamin, p. 424