faryaad : 'Exclamation; lamentation; cry for help, or redress; complaint; charge; suit'. (Platts p.780)
pardah : 'A curtain, screen, cover, veil, ... drum (of the ear); ... secrecy, privacy, modesty; seclusion, concealment; secret, mystery, reticence, reserve; screen, shelter, pretext, pretence; a musical tone or mode; a note of the gamut; the frets of a guitar, &c.'. (Platts p.247)
aahang : 'Design, purpose, intention; method, manner; sound, concord, melody; one of the Persian tunes or modulations in music'. (Platts p.111)
The word pardah has two meanings: a musical instrument, or a covering/concealment-- that is, a contrivance/trick. Here the second meaning is intended. For me, to lament and disgrace the heart is an extremely forbidden/improper act. For some time I was heedless of this honorable duty. Now, what pretext/trick can I search out, so as to raise the melody of complaint?
SETS == A,B; GENERATORS; IZAFAT; SE
MUSIC: {10,3}
VEIL: {6,1}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
The first line is a sort of exhibition hall for the versatility of se -- it can indicate a source ('complaint arises from heedlessness'), or an addressee ('complaint is made to heedlessness'), or an instrumental relationship ('complaint is made by means of heedlessness').
As if that weren't enough, the multivalence of the i.zaafat in ;Gaflat-e rusvaa))ii is especially cleverly framed: 'heedlessness of disgrace' can mean either 'heedlessness toward disgrace' (the speaker ignores the prospect of disgrace), or 'heedlessness caused by disgrace' (the speaker has been unhinged by the trauma of disgrace).
After a head-spinning first line like that, the second line adds an extra fillip through the perfectly chosen word pardah (see the definition above), which can mean 'modesty, seclusion' (as opposed to 'bringing out'), or 'secrecy, concealment' (as opposed to public 'disgrace'), a 'musical tone or mode' (as in aahang , 'melody'), or a 'pretext, pretense' (as in aahang , 'purpose').
The possibilities ramify so rapidly that I won't even try to enumerate them. This verse is a fine example of what I call a 'generator' or a 'meaning machine'.
Compare the re-use of the second line, word for word, in {320x,2}.
Zamin:
In the first line, faryaad is an expression of grief; and in the second line, with the meaning of sighing and lamentation. The word aahang is masculine, but here Mirza has versified it as feminine.
That is, if from the veil/tone of the heart I would bring out a complaint, then that is disgrace and shame. Now what can I do? In what veil/tone can I complain? I can't bear not to complain. The i.zaafat on ;Gaflat offers no benefit with 'disgrace'. By pardah is meant that of a musical instrument.
== Zamin, p. 253