ishq par zor nahin hai ye vo atish 'ghhalib' ki lagae na lage aur bujhae na bane

one has no power over love, it is that flame, to wit, which neither can be set alight, nor extinguished once lit 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.

karunga kya jo mohabbat men ho gaya nakam mujhe to aur koi kaam bhi nahin aata

what will i do in love / if i don't succeed i know no other task, i have to concede

gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai jo chaho laga do dar kaisa gar jiit gae to kya kahna haare bhi to baazi maat nahin

if it be love's wager, bet what you wish, why wait? if you win it's wonderful, loss too is no check-mate

tu khuda hai na mira ishq farishton jaisa donon insan hain to kyuun itne hijabon men milen

neither are you god nor is / my love the angel's sort both are human beings then why, in veils should we consort?

us ne apna bana ke chhod diya kya asiri hai kya rihai hai

she made me hers, away then sent what's freedom? what's imprisonment?

kyuun nahin leta hamari tu khabar ai be-khabar kya tire ashiq hue the dard-o-ghham khane ko ham

unmindful one, why do you not / enquire after me? did i become your paramour / to suffer agony?

tadapti dekhta huun jab koi shai utha leta huun apna dil samajh kar

any trembling object when i see i pick it up, my heart it seems to me

na-kami-e-ishq ya kamyabi donon ka hasil khana-kharabi

love's despair or jubilation both result in ruination

kaabe se ghharaz us ko na but-khane se matlab ashiq jo tira hai na idhar ka na udhar ka

for mosques he does not bother, for temples does not care anyone who loves you is / from neither here nor there

bas mohabbat bas mohabbat bas mohabbat jan-e-man baaqi sab jazbat ka izhar kam kar dijiye

only love, only love and only love my dear from stating other feelings / you should stay well clear

ta-falak le gai betabi-e-dil tab bole hazrat-e-ishq ki pahla hai ye ziina apna

when my heart's / restlessness, to the skies did lead "this is just my first rung", mr. love decreed

khvah dil se mujhe na chahe vo zahiri vaza to nibahe vo

though, at heart, she holds me in disdain a civil aspect should at least maintain

parastish ki yaan tak ki ai but tujhe nazar men sabhon ki khuda kar chale

i worshipped you, o idol, to such extremity in everybody's vision, you are divinity 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.

sau baar band-e-ishq se azad ham hue par kya karen ki dil hi adu hai faraghh ka

a hundred times, love's manacles, i've broken and got free but what is to be done? my heart / is freedom's enemy 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.

ishq par zor nahin hai ye vo atish 'ghhalib' ki lagae na lage aur bujhae na bane

one has no power over love, it is that flame, to wit, which neither can be set alight, nor extinguished once lit 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.

karunga kya jo mohabbat men ho gaya nakam mujhe to aur koi kaam bhi nahin aata

what will i do in love / if i don't succeed i know no other task, i have to concede

gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai jo chaho laga do dar kaisa gar jiit gae to kya kahna haare bhi to baazi maat nahin

if it be love's wager, bet what you wish, why wait? if you win it's wonderful, loss too is no check-mate

tu khuda hai na mira ishq farishton jaisa donon insan hain to kyuun itne hijabon men milen

neither are you god nor is / my love the angel's sort both are human beings then why, in veils should we consort?

us ne apna bana ke chhod diya kya asiri hai kya rihai hai

she made me hers, away then sent what's freedom? what's imprisonment?

ishq maashuq ishq ashiq hai yaani apna hi mubtala hai ishq

love is the beloved, love's the paramour love is thus enmeshed/ in its own allure 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.

parastish ki yaan tak ki ai but tujhe nazar men sabhon ki khuda kar chale

i worshipped you, o idol, to such extremity in everybody's vision, you are divinity 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.

ishq men maut ka naam hai zindagi jis ko jiina ho marna gavara kare

life is but another name / for the death, in love' domain he who wants to live, should first / be willing to be slain

sau baar band-e-ishq se azad ham hue par kya karen ki dil hi adu hai faraghh ka

a hundred times, love's manacles, i've broken and got free but what is to be done? my heart / is freedom's enemy 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.

na-kami-e-ishq ya kamyabi donon ka hasil khana-kharabi

love's despair or jubilation both result in ruination

kaabe se ghharaz us ko na but-khane se matlab ashiq jo tira hai na idhar ka na udhar ka

for mosques he does not bother, for temples does not care anyone who loves you is / from neither here nor there

bas mohabbat bas mohabbat bas mohabbat jan-e-man baaqi sab jazbat ka izhar kam kar dijiye

only love, only love and only love my dear from stating other feelings / you should stay well clear

ta-falak le gai betabi-e-dil tab bole hazrat-e-ishq ki pahla hai ye ziina apna

when my heart's / restlessness, to the skies did lead "this is just my first rung", mr. love decreed

khvah dil se mujhe na chahe vo zahiri vaza to nibahe vo

though, at heart, she holds me in disdain a civil aspect should at least maintain