Tag Archives: Persian Sufi poetry

‘Attar and Carminho

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The Soul’s Dilemma

Once again, each day,

I travel the path of your love

Every night without fail

I mourn your absence anew.

My soul lacks the courage

to love one

such as you-

and my heart lacks the strength

to abandon you too

-‘Attar

From Love’s Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition.  New World Library, 2006.

I wrote your name on the wind…

Translation of lyrics:

I wrote your name in the wind

Convinced that I was writing it

Upon the page of oblivion

That was lost in the wind (x 2)

And when I  saw it still buried

In the dust of the road

I thought my heart was free

From the bonds of your affection (x 2)

Poor me, I had no idea

That just like me

The wind would fall in love

With that name of yours

And as the wind tosses and turns

so does my torment

I want to forget you, believe me

But there is more and more wind

 

I whispered your name to the wind

I whispered your name to the wind
It set the trees’ leaves all aflame
They fell, spelling your name in dust
Which then lept up to dance and sing
And when the dust fell down dead tired
The earth’s heart split in longing pain
And when the sky asked earth what’s wrong?
The ground could only groan your name
And then the clouds welled up with tears
The lovesick sky began to rain
Then sun scattered the clouds but when
He saw what the sky’s tears contained
He flushed with love, fainted away
And only the dark night remained
 The moon woke up and asked the stars
About the sunlight’s dying flame
They winked and all whispered your name
The moon blushed black, and closed his eyes
His image in the ocean sighed
The sea’s smooth surface heaved and writhed
As whales wept with the mourning tide
And then the Moon’s heart broke in two
One piece is me, one piece is you
 And I swear by your name it’s true
I’ve seen just what your name can do

 

Hafez- “Last night the wind brought…”

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An interesting translation in rhyming verse…

Last night, the wind brought wind of my Loved Friend who’d gone away.
     I too shall yield my heart unto the wind: let come what may.
At length my loving comes to this: I have no confidant
     but blazing lightning every night and dawn wind every day.
Defenseless in your deep curled locks, and out of me, my heart
     never once said “Let me recall the body where I lay”
Today, I see my friends were wise to counsel against lovefall.
     Elate my counselors’ souls, O Lord, and bless the truth they say.
Remembering you, my heart was bloodstruck every time wind blew
     open the rosebud’s robe out on the grass in gentle play.
My weakened being leaked out through my fingertips till dawn,
whose wind blew hope of you, and brought the life back to my clay.
          Hafiz, your noble heart will soon achieve your true desire.
          Wherever noble men cry out, let every soul obey.

 

Translation by A.Z. Foreman

http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2011/10/hafiz-ghazal-98-news-from-abroad-from.html

Original:

دوش آگهی ز یار سفرکرده داد باد      من نیز دل به باد دهم هر چه باد باد

کارم بدان رسید که همراز خود کنم         هر شام برق لامع و هر بامداد باد

در چین طره تو دل بی حفاظ من         هرگز نگفت مسکن مالوف یاد باد

امروز قدر پند عزیزان شناختم        یا رب روان ناصح ما از تو شاد باد

خون شد دلم به یاد تو هر گه که در چمن             بند قبای غنچه گل می‌گشاد باد

از دست رفته بود وجود ضعیف من    صبحم به بوی وصل تو جان بازداد باد

حافظ نهاد نیک تو کامت برآورد

جان‌ها فدای مردم نیکونهاد باد

Hafez- “For years my heart asked of me” Ghazal 143

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One of my favorite poems from my favorite poet, rendered into excellent English verse-quite a feat.

سالها دل طلب جام جم از ما می کرد   آنچه خود داشت ز بیگانه تمنا می کرد

“For years my heart inquired of me‚”

 BY HAFEZ

TRANSLATED BY DICK DAVIS

Read the translator’s notes

For years my heart inquired of me
                   Where Jamshid’s sacred cup might be,
And what was in its own possession
                   It asked from strangers, constantly;
Begging the pearl that’s slipped its shell
                   From lost souls wandering by the sea.
Last night I took my troubles to
                   The Magian sage whose keen eyes see
A hundred answers in the wine
                   Whose cup he, laughing, showed to me.
I questioned him, “When was this cup
                   That shows the world’s reality
Handed to you?” He said, “The day
                   Heaven’s vault of lapis lazuli
Was raised, and marvelous things took place
                   By Intellect’s divine decree,
And Moses’ miracles were made
                   And Sameri’s apostasy.”
He added then, “That friend they hanged
                   High on the looming gallows tree—
His sin was that he spoke of things
                   Which should be pondered secretly,
The page of truth his heart enclosed
                   Was annotated publicly.
But if the Holy Ghost once more
                   Should lend his aid to us we’d see
Others perform what Jesus did—
                   Since in his heartsick anguish he
Was unaware that God was there
                   And called His name out ceaselessly.”
I asked him next, “And beauties’ curls
                   That tumble down so sinuously,
What is their meaning? Whence do they come?”
                   “Hafez,” the sage replied to me,
“It’s your distracted, lovelorn heart
                   That asks these questions constantly.”

Source: Poetry (April 2008).

Original Persian:

۱

سال‌ها دل طلب جام جم از ما می‌کرد

وان چه خود داشت ز بیگانه تمنا می‌کرد

۲

گوهری کز صدف کون و مکان بیرون است

طلب از گمشدگان لب دریا می‌کرد

۳

مشکل خویش بر پیر مغان بردم دوش

کو به تایید نظر حل معما می‌کرد

۴

دیدمش خرم و خندان قدح باده به دست

و اندر آن آینه صد گونه تماشا می‌کرد

۵

گفتم این جام جهان بین به تو کی داد حکیم

گفت آن روز که این گنبد مینا می‌کرد

۶

بی دلی در همه احوال خدا با او بود

او نمی‌دیدش و از دور خدا را می‌کرد

۷

این همه شعبده خویش که می‌کرد این جا

سامری پیش عصا و ید بیضا می‌کرد

۸

گفت آن یار کز او گشت سر دار بلند

جرمش این بود که اسرار هویدا می‌کرد

۹

فیض روح القدس ار باز مدد فرماید

دیگران هم بکنند آن چه مسیحا می‌کرد

۱۰

گفتمش سلسله زلف بتان از پی چیست

گفت حافظ گله‌ای از دل شیدا می‌کرد

From: http://hafez.mastaneh.ir/ghazal/ghazal-143/

Listen to another recitation here

Hafez- “I said I suffer for you” “گفتم غم تو دارم”

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I said, “I suffer because of you.” She said, “Your suffering will end.”

I said, “Become my moon.” She said, “If it comes to pass.”

 

I said, “From lovers learn the custom of loyalty.”

She said, “Among the moon-faced ones this is rarely found.”

 

I said, “I will barricade your image from the road of my sight.”

She said, “It is a thief, and will come a different way.”

 

I said, “The scent of your hair has led me astray in the world.”

She said, “If you understand, it can also be your guide.”

 

I said, “Happy is the wind that rises from the garden of beauty.”

She said, “Fresh is the breeze that comes from my alleyway.”

 

I said, “Thirst for your ruby libs killed us with hope.”

She said, “Serve it, for it comes to nourish its servants.”

 

I said, “When does your merciful heart intend a truce?”

She said, “Speak of this to no one until that time comes.”

 

I said, “Did you see how these joyful times ended?”

She said, “Be quiet, Hafiz. This grief will also end.”

 

From: The Green Sea of Heaven: Fifty ghazals from the Diwan of Hafiz. Translated by Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. Ashland, Oregon: White Cloud Press, 2002. p. 111

 

Original:

Hafez comes to life

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English version:

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfgfaq_tongue-of-the-hidden-ten-poems-from-hafez_creation#.UTJYw1qc70g

 

The Peacock

 

Until your hair falls through the fingers of the breeze
My yearning heart lies torn apart with grief
 Black as sorcery, your magic eyes
Render this existence an illusion
 The dusky mole encircled by your curls
Is like the ink-drop falling in the curve of the jeem (ج)
 And wafting tresses in the perfect garden of your face,
Drop like a peacock falling into paradise
My soul searches for the comfort of a glance
Light as the dust arising from your path
Unlike the dust, this earthly body stumbles,
Falling at your threshold, falling fast
Your shadow falls across my frame
Like the breath of Jesus over withered bones
And those who turn to the Ka’aba as their sanctuary
Now with the knowledge of your lips, tumble at the tavern door
 O precious love, the suffering of your absence and lost Hafez
Fell and fused together with the ancient past

 

The Fish
When my beloved offers the cup
Graven idols are crushed
 And those who gaze into that intoxicating eye
Cry out for the police
 I plunge into the ocean like a fish
Craving the beloved’s hook
 I fall pleading at those feet
In hope of a helping hand.
 Happy is the heart who like Hafez
Is drunk with the wine of pre-eternity

 

 

 

modified from Jila Peacock’s Ten Poems form Hafez. Sylph Editions, 2006

Shirazi Turk (Hafez)

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The story goes that when Timurlane conquered Shiraz, he questioned Hafez about the first bayt of this poem, saying it was an insult to his royal majesty for Hafez to think so little of his magnificent cities, Samarkand and Bukhara.  The poet replied, “Alas, O Prince, it is this prodigality which is the cause of the misery in which you find me”.  Charmed, Timurlane dismissed Hafez with rich gifts.

The Lost Joseph (Hafez) – یوسف گمگشته بازآید به کنعان غم مخور

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One of the better English translations of one of my favorite poems from the greatest poet, Hafez:

yusufmin

Your lost Joseph will return to Canaan, do not grieve
This house of sorrows will become a garden, do not grieve

Oh grieving heart, you will mend, do not despair
This frenzied mind will return to calm, do not grieve

When the spring of life sets again in the meadows
A crown of flowers you will bear, singing bird, do not grieve

If these turning epochs do not move with our will today
The spheres of time are not constant, do not grieve

Don’t lose hope, for awareness cannot perceive the unseen
Behind the curtains hidden scenes play, do not grieve

Oh heart, should a flood of destruction engulf the world
If Noah is at your helm, do not grieve

As you step through the desert longing for the Ka’aba
The thorns may reproach you, do not grieve

Home may be perilous and the destination out of reach
But there are no paths without an end, do not grieve

Our state in separation from friends and with demands of foes
The God who spins fate knows all, do not grieve

Hafez, in the corner of poverty and loneliness of dark nights
As long as your words are prayers and lessons of Quran, do not grieve.

(Modified from http://ghiasi.org/2009/06/yousef-e-gomgashtehlost-joseph/)

 

Original:

یوسف گمگشته بازآید به کنعان غم مخور

کلبه احزان شود روزی گلستان غم مخور

ای دل غمدیده حالت به شود دل بد مکن

وین سر شوریده بازآید به سامان غم مخور

گر بهار عمر باشد باز بر تخت چمن

چتر گل در سر کشی ای مرغ خوشخوان غم مخور

دور گردون گر دو روزی بر مراد ما نرفت

دایما یک سان نباشد حال دوران غم مخور

هان مشو نومید چون واقف نه‌ای از سر غیب

باشد اندر پرده بازی‌های پنهان غم مخور

ای دل ار سیل فنا بنیاد هستی برکند

چون تو را نوح است کشتیبان ز طوفان غم مخور

در بیابان گر به شوق کعبه خواهی زد قدم

سرزنش‌ها گر کند خار مغیلان غم مخور

گر چه منزل بس خطرناک است و مقصد بس بعید

هیچ راهی نیست کان را نیست پایان غم مخور

حال ما در فرقت جانان و ابرام رقیب

جمله می‌داند خدای حال گردان غم مخور

حافظا در کنج فقر و خلوت شب‌های تار

تا بود وردت دعا و درس قرآن غم مخور

 

yusufmini