Sorrow has become dear to my soul, Ghalib,
My heart has stopped repeatedly, Ghalib.
By God, sleep does not come at night,
To sleep has become an oath, Ghalib.
This quatrain by Ghalib encapsulates a quintessential theme of Urdu ghazal poetry: the profound embrace of sorrow and its consequence, sleeplessness. Ghalib, renowned for his philosophical depth and poignant expression of human suffering, here describes a heart so accustomed to pain that it has become 'dear,' leading to a state where sleep is an impossibility, almost a forbidden act. This reflects a common motif where the lover's anguish is so consuming that it alienates them from the mundane comforts of life.
grief (gham) · love & longing (ishq, judāī)