The Urdu poet Kunwar Akhlaq Muhammad Khan “Shahryar” (1936–2012) wrote the following maqta‘ (final sher or couplet of a ghazal) in his fifth collection (Neend ki kirchen/ “Splinters of Sleep”; 1995): Hai aj ye gila ki akela hai Shahryar // Tarsoge kal hujum men tanhayi ke liye Today the complaint is that Shahryar is alone. Tomorrow you’ll crave solitude among the multitude. In a prefatory essay to the same collection, the noted Urdu critic