rach gayaa josh-e .safaa se zulf kaa a((.zaa me;N ((aks
hai nazaakat-jalvah ai :zaalim siyaah-faamii tirii
1) there was created, through the ebullience of clearness/brightness, in the limbs, a reflection of the curls
2) your blackish-coloredness, oh cruel one, is delicacy-{glory/appearance}
.safaa : 'Clearness, transparency; polish, brightness; cleanness, purity; serenity (of life or mind); freedom from trouble; comfort; content; complacency; happiness, joy, pleasure, recreation'. (Platts p.745)
a((.zaa : 'Members, limbs, organs'. (Platts p.60)
siyaah : 'Black, dark, sombre; unfortunate, bad:'. (Platts p.709)
faamii : 'Of the colour of, approaching to the colour of'. (Platts p.776)
This verse is in praise of some celebration. Thus he says that the reason for her black-coloredness is that her body was so shining and clear that in it a reflection of the curls was created, and her complexion began to look black-- the way water is not blue in itself, but when it reflects the sky then it looks blue.
The beauty/'brownness' [malii;h] with which he has explained [ta((liil karnaa] the tawny [saa;Nvlaa] complexion! He says that in reality the color of the skin was extremely clear; because of the extremity of the clearness, a reflection of the curls was created in the skin, and the skin became black-colored. In even/also this black-coloredness there is a glory/appearanced mixed with delicacy.
SETS
CURLS: {14,6}
JALVAH: {7,4}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
The Raza text has the obvious calligraphic error (influenced perhaps by the previous verse) of ;xaamii instead of faamii . Every other text has the correct reading, so I have simply fixed the error.
Gyan Chand praises the verse for the beauty of its explanation, its 'elegance in assigning a cause'. We may have thought that the beloved had a darkish or swarthy complexion, but we were wrong: in fact, her skin is so delicate, clear, white, that it picks up something of the color of her black curls. For an extensive discussion of skin-tones in the beloved, see M{1815,2}.
Note for grammar fans: the phrase nazaakat-jalvah is a noun compound or 'reversed izafat'; on these see {129,6x}.
Asi:
Within the limbs there was created a reflection of the ebullience of brightness/clearness of the curls. Oh cruel one, how filled with delicacy is your 'black-mindedness'! He has composed an extraordinary verse-- that instead of the curls' being black, he has called the beloved black.
== Asi, p. 278