The Blossoms: An Interpretation

The Blossoms
[By Mirza Ghalib. Interpretive translation by Siyaah]

There's a restlessness in this heart again,
This bosom seeks wounds afresh. [1]

The heart is ploughed through again,
Here comes the season of blossoms red. [2]

Dying for that betrayer again,
It's my same old life, all over again.

This unconscious state - not without cause or reason, Ghalib
There's something here that's surely being veiled. [4]


[1] joyaa: seek / search for ; zakhm: wound
[2] jigar: literally, 'liver', but equivalent in English usage to 'heart' as the 'seat of emotions', especially love.
aamad: Here comes / arrives; fasl: season / harvest; laala: flowers, typically red.
[4] bekhudi: literally, 'detachment from self'. Has many shades of meaning, such as an unconscious / careless / forgetful / oblivious state. Also refers to being inebriated, or even being spiritually connected with the divine. Thus carries both 'positive' and 'negative' connotations, depending on the context and interpretation.
besabab: without cause / reason / motive
pardadaari: literally, the act of veiling.


I've taken the liberty of titling this selection of couplets 'The Blossoms' which is not its traditional title. It refers to the ironic usage of 'blossoms red' in Couplet [2], a visual that is beautiful yet distressing - the red blossoms in context also carrying an implication of 'blood' after the heart is 'ploughed'. This irony permeates the entire poem - a mood of despair where what could have seemed positive is revealed as negative. The last couplet seems to challenge this mood somewhat, and leaves one ambivalent about the poet's real state.