"ye na thee hamaaree qismat ke wisaal-e-yaar hota
agar aur jeete rehte yahee intezaar hota"
-----It was not in my fate that I should meet my lover
-----If I had continued living, the same anticipation would have existed
This is the literal translation for the first couplet, but I feel there is a lot more linked to it, I feel ghalib would never write something that straight forward.
From what I believe he is talking about life in general, how man is never satisfied with what he has, how you never get what you want, or on the contrary how you always want what you cannot have. And moreover even if you do get something, you feel you didn't really need that, it was something else that you had been craving all along for and the quest that you had just ended starts again just for a different goal this time.
In the second line what ghalib is referring to is, that if there is a life after death, he is sure, the anticipation would still not end, it would continue for more, if not earthly things then heavenly, but no desire will never die, till you are living in any form, in any world.
Another version that comes to my mind is that, he is trying to say that even if a person knows that his desires won't be fulfilled, he knows he won't get what he craves for, he would still yearn for it till the last breath remains in his body.
"tere waade par jiye ham to ye jaan jhooT jaanaa
ke KHushee se mar na jaate agar 'eitabaar hota "
-----That I am living because of your promise, then know this to be untrue
-----I would not have died so happily, if I had any faith in you
Along with the obvious translation I posted above, again ghalib so beautifully clubs and provides a similarity between love and life. He continues about the quest of man and his desires. He says, even though people yearn for these things, and would end up doing anything to achieve it, it would be untrue to say that its what they are living for. No matter how much you desire something, that is and can never be the sole goal for living, because its not one but many a desires man has, some of them get fulfilled, some of them don't and that is the truth of life. If it was true, if man had faith and a promise that whatever he would desire he would get, wouldn't we all just end it, wouldn't life be boring then, its the unsure nature of life and achievements that drives us, for we do not know the outcome, its the mystery that makes us live and work towards to see the end, without it, there is no sadness, if we are to get everything we want, its just a fairy tale, a happy ending, then why why would any one move ahead. We all would just die happily, to live happily ever after.
"teree naazukee se jaana ke bandha tha 'ehed_booda
kabhee too na tor sakta agar oostuwaar hota"
----- From your frailty I learnt that the promise was delicate
----- It would not stand broken had you been determined
Yet again, like the rest of the ghazal, ghalib points out the similarity between the thread of life and love. Just as in love, if any one of the partner is not in it full from his/her heart, the relationship is bound to fail. If any of the partners is not ready to stand there ground, not ready to hold his relationship in the light of the tests thrown at it by the world and the circumstances, it is to break. If such is not the case and both partners are strong in their will, the love can never break, similarly in life, till the person is confident of himself, of his abilities, no power, no circumstance can break him, he his bound to succeed if not today then tomorrow, but you would not see him broken.
