The Ghazals of Ghalib

I am big fan of Mirza Ghalib, the most renowned classical Urdu and Persian poet of the world. His work is marvellous and comparable to the best literary work ever done.  As the renowned critic/poet/writer Shamsur Rahman Faruqui explains, since the convention of having the “idea” of a lover or beloved instead of an actual lover/beloved freed the poet-protagonist-lover from the demands of “realism”, love poetry in Urdu from the last quarter of the seventeenth century onwards consists mostly of “poems about love” and not “love poems” in the Western sense of the term. Ghalib’s poetry is a fine illustration of this. Ghalib also excels in deeply introspective and philosophical verses. I have memorized some notable lines from his famous ghazals.

haiN aur bhee duniya meiN suKHanwar bohot achche
kehte haiN ki ‘GHalib’ ka hai andaaz-e-bayaaN aur

unke dekhe se jo aa jaatee hai muNh par raunaq
woh samajhte haiN ke beemaar ka haal achcha hai

ishq ne ‘GHalib’ nikamma kar diya
warna ham bhee aadmee the; kaam ke

hamko ma’aloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin
dil ke KHush rakhne ko, ‘GHalib’ yeh KHayaal achcha hai