Meer Taqi Meer is universally acknowledged as the founding pillar of the classical Urdu ghazal. Born in Agra in 1723 and later associated with the poetic culture of Delhi and Lucknow, Meer’s name has become synonymous with the very soul of Urdu poetry. His ghazals are unmatched in their emotional depth, linguistic purity, and meditative intensity. Often described as khuda-e-sukhan (the god of poetry), Meer gave the Urdu ghazal its distinct voice — introspective, lyrical, deeply human. Meer’s poetry is rooted in personal suffering, marked by a life shadowed by loss, displacement, and hardship. Yet it is precisely this sorrow that gives his verse its extraordinary power. In his ghazals, love is not merely a theme — it is a metaphysical condition, a path to self-discovery and spiritual transformation. His diction is simple yet layered with feeling; his metaphors delicate but penetrating. He distills vast emotional and existential truths into deceptively modest couplets. This selection of one hundred ghazals offers a rich glimpse into Meer’s poetic universe, where grief and beauty, silence and song, yearning and resignation coexist in a delicate, haunting balance. His work remains a cornerstone of Urdu literature, endlessly echoing in the poetic traditions that followed.