V-I

This being¹ would last or just a passing show,
The wise could not solve this knotty tie so.
He wrote a book though ‘on diving in sea’,
To his heart’s sea ah! he could never see!

1.         It is difficult to convey the true sense of ‘bceni” in line 1. If it conveys an opposite sense of Namud’ then its meaning is truth. Iqbal has not used becna (Conscious, having insight, a seeing being) here, still Wajud-i-beeni means conscious being. We enjoy both the meanings. If it means truth, then translation of line 2 gives a correct sense.
Line 1 means:-
What we see would last, or a passing show,
This being is a truth or just a false show.