آہ کو چاہیے اک عمر اثر ہونے تک
کون جیتا ہے تری زلف کے سر ہونے تک
aah ko chaahiye ik umr asar hone tak
kaun jiitaa hai tirii zulf ke sar hone tak
A sigh needs a lifetime before it takes effect;
who lives long enough to see your tresses won?
Radif and qafia in depth
Level 1: Foundations of Urdu Poetics · about 12 minutes
Find the radif first: it is the identical tail of both lines of the matla. Then the word just before it is the qafia. The qafia words must share their final vowel and everything after it (the harf-e-ravi and what follows).
Radif: hone tak. Qafia: asar / sar, and later in the ghazal khabar. The shared sound is -ar.
اب تو گھبرا کے یہ کہتے ہیں کہ مر جائیں گے
مر کے بھی چین نہ پایا تو کدھر جائیں گے
ab to ghabraa ke ye kahte haiñ ki mar jaa'eñ ge
mar ke bhii chain na paayaa to kidhar jaa'eñ ge
In my distress I now say I will die;
but if I find no peace even in death, where will I go?
Radif: jaa'eñ ge. Qafia: mar / kidhar.
Practice
Find the qafia: 6 questions, built fresh each time from the couplets.