Ghazal 321x, Verse 1

Asi:

I am in a state of having the blood hidden in the liver, and I am becoming pallid. So to speak, I am the nest of that bird of color who has already flown away.

== Asi, p. 173

Zamin:

The nest of the bird of color is the face, and for color to fly away is the same as for the face to become pallid. The meaning of ;xuu;N dar jigar nihuftah is that the blood of the liver has dried up, because of which the color of the face is pallid. The color flies from the face from a shock or from shame. Thus the gist is that difficulties have made the color of my face pallid and have dried up my heart's blood.

== Zamin, pp. 254-255

Gyan Chand:

My blood has hidden itself in the liver and stayed there. Its traces are not there on the face and the skin, so that I have become pallid. Since my color has flown, I myself am the nest of that bird of color. The color was from blood, and the blood has become hidden inside-- so to speak, my color is hidden within my very self. To give for flown-away color the simile of a bird is a favorite idea of Ghalib's.

== Gyan Chand, pp. 280-281

FWP:

SETS
JIGAR: {2,1}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

Why is the lover's blood hidden in his liver? We know that in the ghazal world, the liver is the source of blood. Perhaps the lover is so far gone that his liver can hardly make much blood any more, and his heart doesn't have the energy to circulate it, so that the little remaining blood just sluggishly pools at its point of origin.

The i.zaafat cluster in the second line is clearly to be read as 'the (bird of color) which is flown-away'. It could also be read as 'the bird of (color which is flown-away)'. I like the idea of a pale, ethereal 'bird of flown-away color'. In terms of general Ghalibian usage, however, it's hard to really make the case.

Compare {220,4x}, in which the lover becomes the nest of a different kind of flown-away bird.