Sher on Love, Longing, Loss

One has no control over love; it cannot be forced or restrained.

Ghalib says love is such a fire that neither can you ignite it at will nor can you extinguish it.

The couplet presents love as an uncontrollable inner blaze. It arrives on its own terms and refuses to obey the lover’s will, so both starting and stopping it lie beyond human power. The metaphor of “fire” captures love’s consuming intensity and the speaker’s helpless surrender to it.

One has no control over love; it cannot be forced or restrained.

Ghalib says love is such a fire that neither can you ignite it at will nor can you extinguish it.

The couplet presents love as an uncontrollable inner blaze. It arrives on its own terms and refuses to obey the lover’s will, so both starting and stopping it lie beyond human power. The metaphor of “fire” captures love’s consuming intensity and the speaker’s helpless surrender to it.

You are right in front of me, and I can even address you directly.

So I’m unsure: should I just look at you, or should I speak to you?

The couplet captures a tender confusion in the beloved’s immediate presence. The speaker is torn between the pleasure of simply seeing and the courage needed to begin conversation. The nearness makes desire stronger, yet it also intensifies shyness and fear of breaking the moment. Love here becomes a choice between silent gaze and spoken words.

You are right in front of me, and I can even address you directly.

So I’m unsure: should I just look at you, or should I speak to you?

The couplet captures a tender confusion in the beloved’s immediate presence. The speaker is torn between the pleasure of simply seeing and the courage needed to begin conversation. The nearness makes desire stronger, yet it also intensifies shyness and fear of breaking the moment. Love here becomes a choice between silent gaze and spoken words.

Why even speak of the heart’s ruin and emptiness?

This city has been plundered a hundred times already.

The heart is imagined as a city repeatedly raided by sorrow. After so many losses, the speaker feels that mentioning its desolation is pointless, because devastation has become the norm. The exaggeration “a hundred times” conveys the long, repetitive history of pain and the numb resignation that follows.

Why even speak of the heart’s ruin and emptiness?

This city has been plundered a hundred times already.

The heart is imagined as a city repeatedly raided by sorrow. After so many losses, the speaker feels that mentioning its desolation is pointless, because devastation has become the norm. The exaggeration “a hundred times” conveys the long, repetitive history of pain and the numb resignation that follows.

Love itself is the beloved, and love itself is the lover.

So love is, in fact, afflicted by its own self.

Meer frames love as a self-contained reality: it creates both the seeker and the sought. This makes love a paradox where the wound and the healer are the same force. The emotional core is that the lover’s suffering is not caused by an external beloved, but by love’s own nature turning back upon itself.

Love itself is the beloved, and love itself is the lover.

So love is, in fact, afflicted by its own self.

Meer frames love as a self-contained reality: it creates both the seeker and the sought. This makes love a paradox where the wound and the healer are the same force. The emotional core is that the lover’s suffering is not caused by an external beloved, but by love’s own nature turning back upon itself.

I worshipped you so intensely, O idol-like beloved, to the very limit.

That in everyone’s eyes I ended up making you into a god.

The lover addresses the beloved as an “idol” and says his devotion went so far that it turned into public deification. “Worship” is a metaphor for extreme love and submission, while “in everyone’s eyes” hints at reputation and the power of repeated praise. The emotional core is awe mixed with regret: love has elevated the beloved beyond human measure.

I worshipped you so intensely, O idol-like beloved, to the very limit.

That in everyone’s eyes I ended up making you into a god.

The lover addresses the beloved as an “idol” and says his devotion went so far that it turned into public deification. “Worship” is a metaphor for extreme love and submission, while “in everyone’s eyes” hints at reputation and the power of repeated praise. The emotional core is awe mixed with regret: love has elevated the beloved beyond human measure.

A hundred times I managed to break free from love’s chains.

But what can I do—my own heart is the enemy of peace and relief.

The couplet presents love as a binding chain that the speaker repeatedly tries to escape. Yet true release is impossible because the real jailer is within: the heart itself. The metaphor highlights inner conflict—outward freedom achieved again and again, but inward restlessness keeps pulling one back. The emotional core is helplessness before one’s own desire.

A hundred times I managed to break free from love’s chains.

But what can I do—my own heart is the enemy of peace and relief.

The couplet presents love as a binding chain that the speaker repeatedly tries to escape. Yet true release is impossible because the real jailer is within: the heart itself. The metaphor highlights inner conflict—outward freedom achieved again and again, but inward restlessness keeps pulling one back. The emotional core is helplessness before one’s own desire.