XII-VI
Let us play a
chess1 like a royal game,
To melt the world whole with mutual flame.
Use thy own skill,2 may be a grain of sand,
For a paradise true on every land.3
1. Here waste land is a hint (an allusion) to man’s intrinsic nature, devoid of good qualities.
2. Nard; chess or chausar as invented/played first by Bazur Jamuhr of Persia.
Ba afsoon-i-hunar; with own intrinsic qualities and capabilities.
Iqbal has expressed this phillanthropic, altruistic idea for whole mankind’s benevolence on page 45, Israr-i-Khudi
Get boon of new life by marvel of deed,
With a new touch revive thy deeds indeed.
3. Fasad; corruption, villainery, violence, vice etc.