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Today's poet is Wali Deccani, considered the father of Urdu Gazal.


dil ko lagatii hai dilarubaa kii adaa
jii me.n bastii hai Khush adaa kii adaa

garche sab Khuubaruu hai.n Khuub vale
qatl karatii hai miirazaa kii adaa

(A beauty's looks are always fair, still
The beauty of my love has th epower to kill)

harf-e-bejaa bajaa hai gar boluu.N
dushman-e-hosh hai piyaa kii adaa

(My reason loses track of where and whence
For my beloved's beauty stuns my sense)

naqsh-e-diivaar kyuu.N na ho aashiq
hairat-afazaa hai bevafaa kii adaa

[naqsh-e-diivaar = picture on the wall; hairat-afazaa = that which 
amazes; bevafaa = faithless]

gul huye Gark-e-aab-e-shabanam me.n
dekh us saahib-e-hayaa kii adaa

[Gark-e-aab-e-shabanam = to drown in dew]

ai valii dard-e-sar kii daaruu hai
mujhako us sa.ndalii qabaa kii adaa

[daaruu = medicine/cure; sa.ndalii qabaa = sandalwood scented robe]


Wali Deccani was born in 1667 in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He loved 
travelling, whcih he regarded as a means of education. His visit to 
Delhi in 1700 is considered to be of great significance for Urdu 
ghazals. His simple, sensuous and melodious poems in Urdu, awakened the 
Persian loving poets of Delhi to the beauty and capability of "Rekhta" 
(the old name for Urdu) as a medium of poetic expression. His visit thus 
stimulated the growth and development of Urdu Gazals in Delhi.

However, Wali was not immune or ignorant of the vigour and verve of 
Persian diction and imagery, and combined both into the body of his 
verse. He thus became the architect of the modern poetic language, which 
is a skilful blend of Persian and Urdu vocabulary.

Though Wali wrote in different types of verse forms - masnavi, qasida, 
etc - it was Gazals that he specilized in. He wrote a total of 473 
Gazals, comprising of 3225 couplets (ashaar). He was also the first poet 
to start expressing love from a man's point of view as against the 
prevailing convention of impersonating as a woman.

Wali died in Ahmedabad in 1707, and was buried there.