Woh mujhse hue humqalaam — Sufi Tabassum

We believe that all poetry is due to overwhelming emotions that the poet cannot contain within himself and needs to express via words. There are a spectrum of emotions that lead to a poem, but of course, many a time, a specific one stands out. This poem, we believe, is one such poem. All the couplets which have been sung have the poet trying to juxtapose two situations/ideas that he's not able to reconcile, leading to the exclamation, 'Allah, Allah'. 

Woh mujhse hue humqalam, Allah Allah

Kahan mein kahan ye maqaam, Allah Allah

I had the great fortune of being a conversation with her,

I am not worthy of this achievement, Allah Allah

[Here the poet is not able reconcile with the fact that he just spoke with her. He thinks that he is not even worthy of being able to speak with her.]

Ye *ru-e-darakhshan, ye zulfon ke saaye,

Ye hungaama-e-sub-o-shaam, Allah Allah

These bright faces like daylight, and these dark shades of hair,

The commotion of day and night, Allah Allah

[Here the poet very tastefuly compares the glow of the beloved's face and her dark hair with the light of the day and the darkness of the night. Notice that the he's not able to reconcile the day and night here, just like he's disturbed by the lovers face and her hair.  This leads to a more romantic interpretation, that  all his days and nights go in remembering his lover.]

Wo sehma hua aansuon ka *talaatum

Wo aab-e-rawan *be-khiraam, Allah Allah

That stifled gush of tears,

That flow of tears, unbridled, Allah, Allah.

[Here the poet finds the stifled storm of tears and the uncontrolled crying irreconcilable.]

Wo zabt-e-sukhan mein labon ki khamoshi

Nazar ka wo *lutf-e-kalaam, Allah Allah

That trying to conceal the words by not speaking them from lips,

That letting all be known coquettishly through your gaze, Allah Allah!

[This is perhaps the best sher of the Ghazal. The exclaimation Allah Allah is because he finds it difficult to bring to terms the restraint of words and the narration of the eyes.]

— Sufi Tabassum

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ru-e-darakhshan= bright face

talaatum= storm

be-khiram= disgraceful, untasteful

lutf-e-kalaam= pleasures of conversation

When sung with the flair of Farida Khanum, who sprinkles the shers with just enough silence before ‘Allah, Allah’ to convey the poet’s mind, the poem becomes all the memorable!