Ghazal 398x, Verse 4

Asi:

Calling tears 'eggs of the eyelashes', he says that the eyelashes, considering tears to be their own eggs, take them under their wing and settle down. And since the tears will fly away the moment they emerge from the eggs, the eyelashes have as yet held them back. Because concern about the eggs is erased with their flight.

== Asi, pp. 306-307

Zamin:

In fact the poet wanted to say ashk jo bai.zah-e tah-e par-e mizhgaa;N pinhaa;N hai;N . It's possible that he composed it like this: ashk juu;N bai.zah-e tah-e par-e mizhgaa;N pinhaa;N hai;N . That is, if I have restrained my tears, then the reason is that the restraint of tears is necessary for the progress of madness, and I also want to 'become mad, so that others will know grief for you' [a line of Persian verse]. Thus I keep tending the eggs of tears under the wing of the eyelashes (that is, I restrain the tears), so that from them the child of the bird of madness will emerge and will fly off with me. It is believed that from the restraint of grief, the balance of the temperament no longer remains.

== Zamin, p. 444

Gyan Chand:

Don't ask us the reason for the restraint of tears! Tears are the kind of egg that the eyelashes have hidden under their wing; thus they keep the eggs under their wing and tend them. After which a child emerges from there and flies away. Thus our concern is that the child from the egg of the tears would not fly away. For tears to fly away is for them to dry up and disappear. If the tears would dry up, then madness too will fly away. Thus we have restrained our tears, so that they wouldn't come out and be finished off.

== Gyan Chand, p. 464

FWP:

SETS == GENERATORS; INEXPRESSIBILITY
MADNESS: {14,3}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.

The image of the teardrop as an egg, nested under the 'wing' of the eyelashes, is clever, piquant, suggestive. An egg is delicate and vulnerable, but also precious and full of potential for the future; a suitable place for its care is under the 'wing' of the eyelashes within which it has been created. After it hatches, it will no doubt fly off and live out its own destiny. In the case of an egg/teardrop, what kind of destiny might that be?

Only in retrospect, after we've finally (under mushairah performance conditions) heard this second line, can we at all interpret the first line. The first line tells us that the 'reason for restraint'-- either the speaker's self-restraint, or his restraint of his teardrops-- is inexpressible ('don't ask!'). But the line also gives us a general hint: the speaker feels 'concern about the flight of madness'. The wide range of fikr is perfect in this context (see the definition above). Here are some of the possibilities:

=There is 'thought, consideration, reflection' about the flight of madness. (The speaker deliberates about its nature, and whether or how it should be cultivated or avoided.)

=There is a creative 'notion, idea, imagination, (literary) conceit' about the flight of madness. (The speaker contemplates some poetic use for it; fikr is often used for the process of composing poetry, as in {33,4}.)

=There is 'anxiety, grief, sorrow' about the flight of madness. (The speaker is in pain and emotional distress.)

Then of course the object of all this fikr has a complexity of its own. What is the 'flight of madness'? Apparently the teardrop-egg will hatch into a bird-- and what will happen then? Perhaps the bird of madness might take wing and fly off with the lover, raising him to new heights of crazed passion; this might might be supremely desirable. Or perhaps the bird of madness might fly away, abandoning the lover; this outcome might be seen as a disaster.

In short, this is one of his 'do-it-yourself' verses. You shake up the possibilities, and mix and match them as you like.