mauj-e tabassum-e lab-e aaluudah-e missii
mere liye to te;G-e siyah-taab ho ga))ii
1) the wave of the smile of the missi-stained lip
2) for me-- it became a {blue steel / 'glossy-black'} sword
missii : 'A powder (composed of yellow myrobalan, gall-nut, iron-filings, vitriol, &c.) used for tingeing the teeth of a black colour'. (Platts p.1036)
siyaah-taab : 'Black and shining, glossy black'. (Platts p.709)
siyaah-taab : 'Blue steel'. (Steingass p.713)
siyah-taab = When lemon juice is put on polished steel and it is heated in fire, then blackness appears; this is called siyah-taab . The wave of the smile of a missi-stained lip seems so pleasing to me, and has so caused me to quiver-- like a black-colored sword.
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
'Blue steel' is the result of a special heating process ('bluing') that partially protects the steel against rust. It seems clear that Ghalib wants us to recognize siyah-taab as a technical term pertaining to sword-making, even if we don't know exactly what it involves. For he's put it in the emphatic, closural, verse-final position, and has taken pains to attach it to a 'sword' (despite the 'wave' image in the first line, with which it doesn't accord very well).
But he runs into the same problem he encountered in {417x,1}: the (Persian) technical term is not all that well-known in Urdu. Here the contrast is marked: Steingass defines siyaah-taab as 'blue steel' (the entire definition), while Platts seems not to know it as a term at all (see the definitions above).
The cosmetic called missii is nowadays long gone and hardly known. The huge Urdu Dictionary Board dictionary describes it as 'a black unguent or powder that women rub on their teeth and lips for adornment. It causes the lines [re;xe;N] on the teeth, and the gums, to become black, and the teeth and lips to become gleaming'. From Ghalib's letter quoted in {178,1}, it seems clear that he himself used it too. For more on missii , see Ghalib's betel-nut tribute quoted in {95,1}; [{123,12x}]; {366x,3}. On 'teeth-baring smiles' that may well be thought of as enhanced by the darkness of missii , see {67,1}.
Another verse about a 'blue steel' sword: {418x,1}.
Asi:
Those lips upon which missi has been applied-- their wave of a smile has become, with regard to me, a siyah-taab sword.
== Asi, p. 281