پریشاں کاروبارِ آشنائی

Pareshaan kaarobaar-e-aashnāi

پریشاں تر مری رنگیں نوائی!

Pareshaan tar mirī rangeen nawaai!

The troubled affair of acquaintance,
My melodious expression is even more troubled!

کبھی مَیں ڈھونڈتا ہوں لذّتِ وصل

Kabhī maiñ dhūñḍhtā huuñ lazzat-e-waṣl

خوش آتا ہے کبھی سوزِ جُدائی!

Ḳhush ātā hai kabhī soz-e-judāī!

Sometimes I seek the pleasure of union,
Sometimes the agony of separation pleases me!

Context

This Urdu poem delves into a quintessential theme of ghazal poetry: the profound and often paradoxical nature of love. The speaker expresses a delightful confusion in their emotional landscape, where both the 'business of acquaintance' (kaarobar-e-aashnaai) and their 'colorful utterance' (rangeen navaai) are in a state of 'disorder'. This internal turmoil is further explored through the acceptance and even desire for both the 'pleasure of union' (lazzat-e-vasl) and the 'burning of separation' (soz-e-judaai), highlighting the lover's complex and often contradictory emotional experience, a hallmark of both secular and mystical interpretations of love in Urdu literature.