Chand se parda kijiye, chand se parda Aap ki zulf-e-daraz aankh mein uljhi jaaye Raat poori ho na paaye, subah na aaye, chand se parda Chand se parda kijiye... The Deeper Meaning (The Story’s End) This ghazal is a masterpiece of romantic hyperbole. The lover does not ask his beloved to veil herself. That would be traditional. Instead, he asks the moon to veil itself. He turns the universe upside down. The celestial body, a symbol of beauty for millennia, is now an intruder.

Aap ke lab ka woh shola utar aata hai Translation: That flame from your lips descends instead

In the final stanza, he concedes a little. He admits that her reflection on stars brings light to darkness. But still, he cannot share. The story ends not with a resolution, but with a paradox: the lover is both elevated and destroyed by her beauty. He wants to own the night, but the night belongs to the moon, and the moon is jealous of her.

Jis gali se bhi guzro, woh gali chaand bane Translation: Whichever street you pass through, that street becomes the moon

Aap ki aankh mein kaajal nahi, kaajal nahi Translation: There is no kohl in your eyes – no, no kohl

Raat ki chaadar-e-abres pe shabnam ki jagah Translation: In place of dew on the embroidered sheet of night

He is in love with a woman of unparalleled beauty. In his eyes, she is not like the moon—she is more than the moon. The moon, with its pale, cold light, is a cheap imitation of her radiance. Every night, the moon rises and casts its glow upon the world, and every night, our lover grows jealous. Why? Because the moon dares to mimic his beloved. Worse, it exposes her.