Hafez and Surah Qadr

Posted on April 26, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

There’s a close relationship between Hafez’s poetry and the Qur’an, and it’s seldom as explicit as in the poem below:

Translation:

This is the night of union and the tale of separation is at an end

Therein is peace until the break of dawn.

O heart, be steadfast in love

For on this path, no work is without reward.

I will not repent of my dissolute ways.

even if you punish me with banishment and separation.

My heart left, but I did not see the face of the sweetheart

weeping from this disdain and oh, from this grief.

Oh heart-illuminating morning, arise for God’s sake.

For the night of separation looks dark to me.

Hafez, if you want fidelity, endure cruelty

for there is gain and loss in trade.

illumincolors bluequran1

Original:

شب وصل است و طی شد نامه هجر
سلام فیه حتی مطلع الفجر
دلا در عاشقی ثابت قدم باش
که در این ره نباشد کار بی اجر
من از رندی نخواهم کرد توبه
و لو آذیتنی بالهجر و الحجر
برآی ای صبح روشن دل خدا را
که بس تاریک میبینم شب هجر
دلم رفت و ندیدم روی دلدار
فغان از این تطاول آه از این زجر
وفا خواهی جفاکش باش حافظ
فان الربح و الخسران فی التجر

Surah al-Qadr

Translation:

Truly we sent it down in the Night of Power

And what shall apprise thee of the Night of Power?

The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.

The Angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the leave of their Lord, with every command

Peace it is until the break of dawn.

Original:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ .^[1

bluequran

Hafez taught me: Three Great Ghazals

Posted on April 7, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

These three wonderful ghazals are right next to one another in Hafez’s Divan:

Ghazal 344:

Translation:

With your black eyelashes, you poked thousands of holes in my faith

Come, let me pick thousands of pains from your lovesick eyes.

O companion of the heart who has forgotten your friends

Let there be no day when I am without your memory.

The world is old and without foundation—Alas, the fraud and deceit

of this killer of Farhad has made me tired of my sweet life.

The fire of separation drowned me in sweat like the rose

O dawn wind, bring a breeze from the one who wipes my sweat.

I sacrifice the ephemeral and eternal worlds for the young beauty and the Saqi

for I see the sultanate of the world as a parasite of love.

If the Friend chooses another in my place, the choice is His

But God forbid that I choose my life in place of the Friend.

The nightingale sang good morning. Where are you, Saqi? Arise!

For the memory of last night’s dream clamors in my head.

On the night of death, I shall go from my bed to the huri’s palace

if I you are the candle at my bedside as I surrender my soul.

The story of longing that became recorded in this book

is wholly without fault, for Hafez taught it to me.

(Translation From The Divan of Hafez by Reza Saberi, p. 410)

Original:
به مژگان سیه کردی هزاران رخنه در دینم
بیا کز چشم بیمارت هزاران درد برچینم
الا ای همنشین دل که یارانت برفت از یاد
مرا روزی مباد آن دم که بی یاد تو بنشینم
جهان پیر است و بی‌بنیاد از این فرهادکش فریاد
که کرد افسون و نیرنگش ملول از جان شیرینم
ز تاب آتش دوری شدم غرق عرق چون گل
بیار ای باد شبگیری نسیمی زان عرق چینم
جهان فانی و باقی فدای شاهد و ساقی
که سلطانی عالم را طفیل عشق می‌بینم
اگر بر جای من غیری گزیند دوست حاکم اوست
حرامم باد اگر من جان به جای دوست بگزینم
صباح الخیر زد بلبل کجایی ساقیا برخیز
که غوغا می‌کند در سر خیال خواب دوشینم
شب رحلت هم از بستر روم در قصر حورالعین
اگر در وقت جان دادن تو باشی شمع بالینم
حدیث آرزومندی که در این نامه ثبت افتاد
همانا بی‌غلط باشد که حافظ داد تلقینم

Ghazal 355:

Translation:

The way I see it, the best thing for me to do now is:

to go to the tavern and sit there happily.

Having no friend nor companion save my book and a cup

so that I see less of the deceitful colleagues.

I boasted of piety so much in my stained robe

that I am shamed by the Saqi’s face and the colorful wine.

I will take the cup of wine and stay away from the hypocrites

That is, of the people of the world, I will choose the one with a pure heart.

If it be possible to gather up my skirt from this world,

I will freely raise my head up above the people like a cypress.

My heart has the dust of many cruelties

O God, do not allow this mirror which is accustomed to love to be tarnished.

If I am the rascal of the tavern or the Hafez of the city,

I am that which you see or even less.

My straightened chest and the burden of his grief? Impossible.

My wretched heart is no match for this heavy burden.

I am the slave of the Asaf of the age. Do not mislead my heart.

For if I complain of the wheel, he will avenge me thereon.

(Translation From The Divan of Hafez by Reza Saberi, p. 411)

hafezallegory

Original:

حالیا مصلحت وقت در آن می‌بینم
که کشم رخت به میخانه و خوش بنشینم
جام می گیرم و از اهل ریا دور شوم
یعنی از اهل جهان پاکدلی بگزینم
جز صراحی و کتابم نبود یار و ندیم
تا حریفان دغا را به جهان کم بینم
سر به آزادگی از خلق برآرم چون سرو
گر دهد دست که دامن ز جهان درچینم
بس که در خرقه آلوده زدم لاف صلاح
شرمسار از رخ ساقی و می رنگینم
سینه تنگ من و بار غم او هیهات
مرد این بار گران نیست دل مسکینم
من اگر رند خراباتم و گر زاهد شهر
این متاعم که همی‌بینی و کمتر زینم
بنده آصف عهدم دلم از راه مبر
که اگر دم زنم از چرخ بخواهد کینم
بر دلم گرد ستم‌هاست خدایا مپسند
که مکدر شود آیینه مهرآیینم

hafezreadingbook

Ghazal 353:

Translation:

I will not renounce love, the young beauty, and the cup of wine

I repented a hundred times and will do so no more.

The garden of paradise, the shade of Tuba, and the palace of heavenly maidens,

I will not compare them to the dust of the friend’s street.

The teaching and guidance of men of vision is but an allusion

I said this as a metaphor and will not repeat it again.

I am never conscious of my own head

until I raise it in the middle of a tavern.

The advisor tauntingly told me not to drink wine, it is forbidden.

I said alright. But I do not listen to every donkey.

The Shaykh told me angrily, “Stop falling in love!”

There is no need to quarrel, brother. I will not.

This much piety is enough for me that I do not wink at

the beautiful youths of the city from the top of the pulpit.

Hafez, the Magian Pīr’s side is a stately place

I will not give up kissing the dust of this door.

(Translation From The Divan of Hafez by Reza Saberi, p. 409)

Original:

من ترک عشق شاهد و ساغر نمی‌کنم
صد بار توبه کردم و دیگر نمی‌کنم
باغ بهشت و سایه طوبی و قصر و حور
با خاک کوی دوست برابر نمی‌کنم
تلقین و درس اهل نظر یک اشارت است
گفتم کنایتی و مکرر نمی‌کنم
هرگز نمی‌شود ز سر خود خبر مرا
تا در میان میکده سر بر نمی‌کنم
ناصح به طعن گفت که رو ترک عشق کن
محتاج جنگ نیست برادر نمی‌کنم
این تقویم تمام که با شاهدان شهر
ناز و کرشمه بر سر منبر نمی‌کنم
حافظ جناب پیر مغان جای دولت است
من ترک خاک بوسی این در نمی‌کنم

Nightingale: Keats and Hafez

Posted on March 11, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Hafez sang:

بلبلى خون جگر خورد و گلى حاصل كرد
باد غيرت به صادش خار پريشان دل كرد
طوطيى را به خيال شكرى دل خوش بود
ناگهش سيل فنا نقش امل باطل كرد

Gertrude Bell’s translation:

The nightingale with drops of his heart’s blood
Had nourished the red rose, then came a wind,
And catching at the boughs in envious mood,
a hundred thorns about his heart entwined.
Like to the parrot crunching sugar, good
Seemed the world to me who could not stay
The wind of Death that swept my hopes away.

Compare with this beautiful recitation of Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale:

Ode to a Nightingale

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,

But being too happy in thine happiness,—

That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees

In some melodious plot

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,

Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of Flora and the country green,

Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

O for a beaker full of the warm South,

Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

And purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget

What thou among the leaves hast never known,

The weariness, the fever, and the fret

Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;

Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,

Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;

Where but to think is to be full of sorrow

And leaden-eyed despairs,

Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,

Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,

Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

But on the viewless wings of Poesy,

Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:

Already with thee! tender is the night,

And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,

Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;

But here there is no light,

Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown

Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,

Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,

But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet

Wherewith the seasonable month endows

The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;

White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;

Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;

And mid-May’s eldest child,

The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,

The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death,

Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

To take into the air my quiet breath;

Now more than ever seems it rich to die,

To cease upon the midnight with no pain,

While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad

In such an ecstasy!

Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—

To thy high requiem become a sod.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

No hungry generations tread thee down;

The voice I hear this passing night was heard

In ancient days by emperor and clown:

Perhaps the self-same song that found a path

Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,

She stood in tears amid the alien corn;

The same that oft-times hath

Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam

Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toll me back from thee to my sole self!

Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well

As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.

Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades

Past the near meadows, over the still stream,

Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep

In the next valley-glades:

Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

Hafez

Translation:

Weep, O Nightingale, if you wish to be my friend

For we are two helpless lovers, whose work is weeping

In that land where the breeze blows from the beloved’s locks

what room is there for boasting of the musk of Tartar?

Bring wine so we can dye our cloak of hypocrisy

We are drunk form the cup of arrogance and we call it sobriety

Cherishing the thought of your hair is not for the novice

going under the chain is the way of the elite

There is a hidden subtlety that gives rise to love

whose name is neither ruby lip nor auburn cheek’s down

A person’s beauty is not in the eye nor face, nor cheek, nor hair

there are a thousand fine points in this work of beauties

The Qalandars of Truth do not buy, for half a barley corn,

the silk robe of the person who is without art

It is difficult to reach your doorstep

ascension to the heaven of joy is difficult

At dawn I dreamt of the seductive glance of your eye

Ah, some stages of sleep are better than being awake…

Do not harm his heart with your wailing, hush now Hafez

For eternal salvation lies in doing the least harm

Original:

بنال بلبل اگر با منت سر یاریست
که ما دو عاشق زاریم و کار ما زاریست

در آن زمین که نسیمی وزد ز طره دوست
چه جای دم زدن نافه‌های تاتاریست

بیار باده که رنگین کنیم جامه زرق
که مست جام غروریم و نام هشیاریست

خیال زلف تو پختن نه کار هر خامیست
که زیر سلسله رفتن طریق عیاریست

لطیفه‌ایست نهانی که عشق از او خیزد
که نام آن نه لب لعل و خط زنگاریست

جمال شخص نه چشم است و زلف و عارض و خال
هزار نکته در این کار و بار دلداریست

قلندران حقیقت به نیم جو نخرند
قبای اطلس آن کس که از هنر عاریست

بر آستان تو مشکل توان رسید آری
عروج بر فلک سروری به دشواریست

سحر کرشمه چشمت به خواب می‌دیدم
زهی مراتب خوابی که به ز بیداریست

دلش به ناله میازار و ختم کن حافظ
که رستگاری جاوید در کم آزاریست

japansingnightingale

Translation:

At dawn, the nightingale complained to the breeze, saying:

“Oh the things that loving the rose’s face has done to me…”

It pulled off the veil of the rose and brushed away the tress of the hyacinth

and opened the knot of the cord of the bud’s robe

The lover nightingale cried out in all directions

But it was the breeze that was blessed from this

Blessed be the morning breeze that

remedied the pain of those who stay awake at night

No more will I complain of strangers

for any wrong to me was done my that dear one

If I coveted a favor from the sultan, it was a mistake

If I sought faithfulness from the beloved, she was cruel.

I am the slave of the generous spirit of that dear one

Who did good deeds without pretension and hypocrisy

take the good news to the winesellers’ street

That Hafez repented of pretentious abstinence

Original:

سحر بلبل حکایت با صبا کرد

که عشق روی گل با ما چه‌ها کرد

از آن رنگ رخم خون در دل افتاد

وز آن گلشن به خارم مبتلا کرد

غلام همت آن نازنینم

که کار خیر بی روی و ریا کرد

من از بیگانگان دیگر ننالم

که با من هر چه کرد آن آشنا کرد

گر از سلطان طمع کردم خطا بود

ور از دلبر وفا جستم جفا کرد

خوشش باد آن نسیم صبحگاهی

که درد شب نشینان را دوا کرد

نقاب گل کشید و زلف سنبل

گره بند قبای غنچه وا کرد

به هر سو بلبل عاشق در افغان

تنعم از میان باد صبا کرد

بشارت بر به کوی می فروشان

که حافظ توبه از زهد ریا کرد

chinesenightingale

Translation:

I went to the garden one morning to pick a rose

and suddenly heard a nightingale’s song.

Like me, the poor bird had fallen in love with a rose

and in the field, raised a commotion with his cries.

And as I walked through that field and garden

I thought on that rose and nightingale.

The rose befriended beauty, and the nightingale, love

neither showed any signs of changing.

As the song of the nightingale entered my heart,

it got to the point where I could stand it no longer.

Many roses bloom in this garden, but

none plucks a rose without the pain of a thorn.

Hafez, harbor hope of deliverance from this cycle of existence

It has a thousand flaws and not one redeeming virtue.

Original:

رفتم به باغ صبحدمی تا چنم گلی

آمد به گوش ناگهم آواز بلبلی

مسکین چو من به عشق گلی گشته مبتلا

و اندر چمن فکنده ز فریاد غلغلی

می‌گشتم اندر آن چمن و باغ دم به دم

می‌کردم اندر آن گل و بلبل تاملی

گل یار حسن گشته و بلبل قرین عشق

آن را تفضلی نه و این را تبدلی

چون کرد در دلم اثر آواز عندلیب

گشتم چنان که هیچ نماندم تحملی

بس گل شکفته می‌شود این باغ را ولی

کس بی بلای خار نچیده‌ست از او گلی

حافظ مدار امید فرج از مدار كون

دارد هزار عیب و ندارد تفضلی

Translation:

“Ask for wine and throw flowers. What else do you want from time?”

The rose said this at dawn, O nightingale, what do you say?

Take your seat in the rose garden so that you may kiss

the beauty and the Saqi on the lip and cheek and drink wine and smell roses

Upon whom will your smiling bud bestow its fortune

O elegant rose, for whose sake do you grow?

Each bird comes to the king’s rose garden with a tale

The nightingale with his song and Hafez with his prayer.

Original:

می خواه و گل افشان کن از دهر چه می‌جویی

این گفت سحرگه گل بلبل تو چه می‌گویی

مسند به گلستان بر تا شاهد و ساقی را

لب گیری و رخ بوسی می نوشی و گل بویی

تا غنچه خندانت دولت به که خواهد داد

ای شاخ گل رعنا از بهر که می‌رویی

هر مرغ به دستانی در گلشن شاه آمد

بلبل به نواسازی حافظ به غزل گویی

Camaron

Translation:

Step into that corner
where the gnats do not bite
I do not care about anyone
but you, my little dear

In the Moorish quarter
Juanola le puso el cura
Juanola pa to la vía.

I saw the flowers cry
when you entered the garden,
because the flowers would all like
to look like you.

Keep away from the people
who do not know our love,
the farther you are from the saint,
the closer to devotion.

And the day you were born
all the flowers bloomed
and at the baptismal font
nightingales sang.

nightgalepersianmin

Original:

Lerelere lele…aay

Métete en aquel rincón
donde las mosquitas no te coman
cuenta yo no le doy a nadie
primita de tu persona.

De la morería
Juanola le puso el cura
Juanola pa to la vía.

Al verte las flores lloran
cuando entras tu al jardín,
porque las flores quisieran
toítas parecerse a ti.

Retírate que la gente
no conozca nuestro amor,
contra más lejos esté el santo
más cerca la devoción.

Y el día que tú naciste
nacieron toítas las flores
y en la pila de bautismo
cantaron los ruiseñores.

nightingale

I carry your heart

Posted on March 6, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

This lovely poem by e.e. cummings sounds like it could have been written by Rumi:

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

by e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Rumi

Translation:

Stealthily as the soul, you are going in the midst of my soul; O luster of my garden, you are my gracefully moving cypress.

When you go, go not without me; soul of my soul, go not without my body, and depart not out of my sight, O my blazing torch.

I tear up the seven heavens and pass beyond the seven seas, when lovingly you gaze into my giddy soul.

Since you came into my bosom, infidelity and faith are my servitors, O you whose vision is my religion, whose face is my faith.

You have made me headless and footless, you have made me sleepless and foodless;

enter drunken and laughing, O my Joseph of Canaan.

Through your grace I have become soul-like and have become hidden from myself,

O you whose being has become hidden in my hidden being.

The rose rends its garment because of you, O you with whom the narcissus’ eye is intoxicated, of whom the branches are pregnant, O you my infinite garden.

One moment you brand me, the next you draw me into the garden; you draw me before the lamp so that my eyes may be opened.

O soul before all souls, O mine before all mines, O moment before all moments, O my very own, O my very own!

Our resting place is not earth; though the body crumbles, it matters not. My thought is not the skies, O you, union with whom is my heaven.

The grave of mariners is the sea forevermore; in the water of life where is death, O you, my Sea, my Ocean?

O you whose scent is in my sigh, whose sigh is my fellow traveler, in the hope of my Emperor color and scent have become distraught with me.

My soul, since like a mote in the air it has become separated from all heaviness, why should it be without you, O origin of my four elements?

O my king Ṣalāh al-Dīn, you who know my way and see my way, you who are free of concern with my little dignity, loftier than my potentiality.

Original:

دزدیده چون جان می روی اندر میان جان من
سرو خرامان منی ای رونق بستان من
چون می روی بی‌من مرو ای جان جان بی‌تن مرو
وز چشم من بیرون مشو ای شعله تابان من
هفت آسمان را بردرم وز هفت دریا بگذرم
چون دلبرانه بنگری در جان سرگردان من
تا آمدی اندر برم شد کفر و ایمان چاکرم
ای دیدن تو دین من وی روی تو ایمان من
بی‌پا و سر کردی مرا بی‌خواب و خور کردی مرا
سرمست و خندان اندرآ ای یوسف کنعان من
از لطف تو چو جان شدم وز خویشتن پنهان شدم
ای هست تو پنهان شده در هستی پنهان من
گل جامه در از دست تو ای چشم نرگس مست تو
ای شاخ‌ها آبست تو ای باغ بی‌پایان من
یک لحظه داغم می کشی یک دم به باغم می کشی
پیش چراغم می کشی تا وا شود چشمان من
ای جان پیش از جان‌ها وی کان پیش از کان‌ها
ای آن پیش از آن‌ها ای آن من ای آن من
منزلگه ما خاک نی گر تن بریزد باک نی
اندیشه‌ام افلاک نی ای وصل تو کیوان من
مر اهل کشتی را لحد در بحر باشد تا ابد
در آب حیوان مرگ کو ای بحر من عمان من
ای بوی تو در آه من وی آه تو همراه من
بر بوی شاهنشاه من شد رنگ و بو حیران من
جانم چو ذره در هوا چون شد ز هر ثقلی جدا
بی‌تو چرا باشد چرا ای اصل چار ارکان من
ای شه صلاح الدین من ره دان من ره بین من
ای فارغ از تمکین من ای برتر از امکان من

Bright Night, Dark Day

Posted on February 19, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Shabistari

The Rose Garden of Mystery (verses 122-130)

Reason’s light applied to the Essence of Lights

is like the eye of the head looking at the brilliance of the Sun

when the object seen is very close to the eye

The eye is darkened so that it cannot see it

This blackness, if you know it, is the very light of Being

in the land of darkness is the fountain of life

Since the darkness destroys the light of vision

Give up loooking, for this is no place for looking

What connection has dust with the pure world?

Its perception is the inability to perceive perception

…

What shall I say? since this saying is fine,

“A bright night in the midst of a dark day”

In this place of witnessing, which is the light of manifestation

I have much to say, but silence is best.

Original:

بود نور خرد در ذات انور به سان چشم سر در چشمه خور
چو مبصر با بصر نزدیک گردد بصر ز ادراک آن تاریک گردد
سیاهی گر بدانی نور ذات است به تاریکی درون آب حیات است
سیه جز قابض نور بصر نیست نظر بگذار کین جای نظر نیست
چه نسبت خاک را با عالم پاک که ادراک است عجز از درک ادراک
سیه رویی ز ممکن در دو عالم جدا هرگز نشد والله اعلم
سواد الوجه فی الدارین درویش سواد اعظم آمد بی کم و بیش
چه می‌گویم که هست این نکته باریک شب روشن میان روز تاریک
در این مشهد که انوار تجلی است سخن دارم ولی نا گفتن اولی است

Ibn al-Fāriḍ

Translation:

If he should visit one day, o my heart, tear yourself to shreds in love for him

and if he should leave, o eye, pour out tears

But there is no harm in distance, for the one I love is with me

For if he be absent from the pupil of my eye, yet still he is in me

Original:

إنْ زارَ، يوماً ياحَشايَ تَقَطَّعي، كَلَفاً بهِ، أو سارَ، يا عينُ اذرِفي
ما للنّوى ذّنْبٌ، ومَنْ أهوى مَعي، إنْ غابَ عنْ إنسانِ عيني فهوَ في

namibdesert2

Shakespeare

Sonnet 43

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow’s form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

Rumi and Bossa Nova

Posted on January 30, 2016 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes

Translation:

Me without you, there’s no reason
Because without you, I can’t even cry
I’m flame without light, garden without moonlight
Moonlight without love, love that’s not given

And without you I’m only lovelorn
A ship without sea, a field without flower
Sadness that goes, sadness that comes
Without you, my love, I’m no one

Ah, what longing
How I wish to see our life reborn
Come back, darling
My arms need yours
Your arms need mine

I’m so alone
My eyes weary of looking into the distance
Come see life
Without you, my love, I’m no one
Without you, my love, I’m no one

Original:

Eu sem você não tenho porquê
Porque sem você não sei nem chorar
Sou chama sem luz, jardim sem luar
Luar sem amor, amor sem se dar

Em sem você sou só desamor
Um barco sem mar, um campo sem flor
Tristeza que vai, tristeza que vem
Sem você, meu amor, eu não sou ninguém

Ah, que saudade
Que vontade de ver renascer nossa vida
Volta, querida
Os meus braços precisam dos teus
Teus braços precisam dos meus

Estou tão sozinho
Tenho os olhos cansados de olhar para o além
Vem ver a vida
Sem você, meu amor, eu não sou ninguém
Sem você, meu amor, eu não sou ninguém.

Lyrics From:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/samba-em-preludio-samba-prelude.html#songtranslation#ixzz3yhazaGt5

More about the song here

Rumi

Translation:

I can be without anyone, but without you, I just can’t

My wand’ring heart bears your brand, go without you, it just can’t

Reason’s eye is drunk off you, Heaven’s wheel whirls under your thumb

Pleasure’s nose is in your hand, but without you, I just can’t

From you, the soul comes to a boil, and from you, the heart is fed

From you, reason starts to roar, but without you, I just can’t

You’re my wine and poison, my garden and spring

My sleep and my resting place, and without you, I just can’t

You’re my rank and my glory, dominion and wealth

You’re my crystal water, and without you, I just can’t

Sometimes you are faithful, and sometimes you’re untrue

Where are you going without me? For I just can’t, without you

They offer their hearts, you take it; they make repentance, you break it

All this and still more you do, but I just can’t, without you

If it were possible to be without you, the whole world would turn inside-out

The Garden of Eden would be a hell, for I just can’t, without you

If you’re the head, I’ll be the foot; if the hand, then I’m your flag

If you go, I’ll be nothing, for without you, I just can’t

You’ve bewitched me from my sleep, you’ve erased my own outline

You’ve cut me off from everything, for without you, I just can’t

If you won’t be my partner, all my work will lie in ruin

My companion and comfort—without you, I simply can’t

Without you, there’s no joy in life, nor is there relief in death

How can I kill my grief for you, when without you, I simply can’t?

Whatever I say, o my love, is not separate from my good and bad

From your sweet kindness, won’t you please say too:

That I simply cannot be without you

Original:

بی همگان به سر شود بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

داغ تو دارد این دلم جای دگر نمی‌شود

دیده عقل مست تو چرخه چرخ پست تو

گوش طرب به دست تو بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

جان ز تو جوش می‌کند دل ز تو نوش می‌کند

عقل خروش می‌کند بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

خمر من و خمار من باغ من و بهار من

خواب من و قرار من بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

جاه و جلال من تویی ملکت و مال من تویی

آب زلال من تویی بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

گاه سوی وفا روی گاه سوی جفا روی

آن منی کجا روی بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

دل بنهند برکنی توبه کنند بشکنی

این همه خود تو می‌کنی بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

بی تو اگر به سر شدی زیر جهان زبر شدی

باغ ارم سقر شدی بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

گر تو سری قدم شوم ور تو کفی علم شوم

ور بروی عدم شوم بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

خواب مرا ببسته‌ای نقش مرا بشسته‌ای

وز همه‌ام گسسته‌ای بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

گر تو نباشی یار من گشت خراب کار من

مونس و غمگسار من بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

بی تو نه زندگی خوشم بی‌تو نه مردگی خوشم

سر ز غم تو چون کشم بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

هر چه بگویم ای سند نیست جدا ز نیک و بد

هم تو بگو به لطف خود بی‌تو به سر نمی‌شود

Two loves become one

Posted on September 22, 2015 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Ḥallāj

Translation:

My heart had various longings,

but since seeing you, they’ve all become one

My envied mine envier became, and

I became the Lord of mankind, since my lord you became

I left everyone to their world and their religion

busy with my love for you, oh my world and my religion

You lit two fires in my liver:

one between my ribs and the other between my guts.

muhammaddots

Original:

كانـت لقلبي أهواءٌ مفرّقــة فاستجمعَتْ مـُذْ راءَتـْك العين أهوائي

فصار يحسدني من كنت احسده وصرتُ مولى الورى مُذْ صرتَ مولائي

ما لامني فيك أحبابي و أعدائي إلّـا لغفلتهم عن عظـم بلوائــــي

تركتُ للناس دنياهم و دينهـم شغلاً بحبـّك يا ديني و دنيائــــي

أشعلتَ في كبدي نارين واحدة بين الضلوع و أخرى بين أحشائــي

Rَābi’a

Translation:

I came to know love through your love

I’ve closed my heart to all but you

I whispered to you who sees the secrets of hearts

while none of us see you

I love you with two loves, one of passion

and one because it is your due

As for the love of passion

it busies me with your remembrance apart from all but you

As for the love that is your due

it lifts the veils form me until I see you

And I’m not to praise for this or that

But praise is yours for this and that

I love you with two loves, one of passion

and one because it is your due

Orginal:

عَرَفْتُ الهَوى مُذ عَرَفْتُ هواك
وأغْلَقْتُ قَلْبي عَلىٰ مَنْ عَاداكْ
وقُمْتُ اُناجِيـكَ يا مَن تـَرىٰ
خَفايا القُلُوبِ ولَسْنا نراك
أحِبُكَ حُبَيْنِ حُبَ الهَـوىٰ
وحُبْــاً لأنَكَ أهْـل ٌ لـِذَاك
فأما الذي هُوَ حُبُ الهَوىٰ
فَشُغْلِي بذِكْرِكَ عَمَنْ سـِواكْ
وامّـا الذي أنْتَ أهلٌ لَهُ
فَلَسْتُ أرىٰ الكَوْنِ حَتىٰ أراكْ
فلا الحَمْدُ في ذا ولا ذاكَ لي
ولكنْ لكَ الحَمْدُ فِي ذا وذاك

أحِبُكَ حُبَيْنِ حُبَ الهَـوىٰ
وحُبْــاً لأنَكَ أهْـل ٌ لـِذَاك
31 Afgan-India abad-16 h-71

Ibrahim Ferrer

Translation:

Two gardenias for you;
With them I wish to say:
I love you, I adore you, my love.

Place all your attention on them,
because they are your heart
and mine.

Two gardenias for you
that will have all the warmth
of a kiss.
Of those kisses that I gave you
and that you shall never find
in the warmth of another love.

Beside you they will live
and they will talk to you
as when you are with me.
And you will even believe
that they say to you: “I love you.”

But if one evening,
my love’s gardenias
should happen to die
it’s because they have discovered
that you have betrayed me
because there is another love.

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/

golddesigncallig

Original:

Dos gardenias para ti
Con ellas quiero decir
Te quiero, te adoro, mi vida.
Ponles toda tu atención
Porque son tu corazón y el mío.

Dos gardenias para ti
Que tendrán todo el calor de un beso
De esos besos que te di
Y que jamás encontraras
En el calor de otro querer.

A tu lado vivirán y te hablarán
Como cuando estás conmigo
Y hasta creerás
Que te dirán te quiero

Pero si un atardecer
Las gardenias de mi amor se mueren
Es porque han adivinado
Que tu amor se ha marchitado
Porque existe otro querer

moroccanwoodendoor

Water, Air, Fire, Earth

Posted on July 15, 2015 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Ibn al-Fāriḍ

Translation:

Purity but not water, Subtlety but not air

Light but not fire, spirit but not body

Original:

صفاءٌ، ولا ماءٌ، ولُطْفٌ، ولاهَواً،

ونورٌ ولا نارٌ وروحٌ ولا جسمُ

Dattatreya

Translation:

Neither space nor air is the Reality;
Neither earth nor fire is the Reality.
If there’s only the limitless One, all is Shiva.
Which, then is the cloud, and which is the rain?

Original:

गगनं पवनो न हि सत्यमिति
धरणी दहनो न हि सत्यमिति ।
यदि चैकनिरन्तरसर्वशिवं
जलदश्च कथं सलिलं च कथम्

Avadhuta Gita
Chapter 6, Verse 9

Ibn ‘Ajībah

In speaking of the Sufi, they have invoked the similitude of the four elements upon which the physical world is based: air, earth, water, and fire, also known as the four natures, and mentioned by Ibn Sina in the verses

What Hippocrates said of them was sound:

They are fire, water, earth, and wind

All four of these can be found in the nature of the Sufi.

al-futūḥāt al-ilāhiyyah fī sharḥ al-mubāḥith al-aṣliyyah

Emir ‘Abd al-Qadir

Translation:

I am God, I am the creature

I am the Lord, I am the servant

I am the Throne, I am the carpet

I am water, I am fire

I am wind, I am earth

I am quantity, I am quality

I am finding, I am losing

I am essence, I am attribute

I am nearness, I am distance

All existence is my existence

I am only, I am unique

Original:

أنا حق أنا خلق أنا رب أنا عبد

أنا عرش أنا فرش و جحيم أنا خلد

أنا ماء أنا نار و هواء أنا صلد

أنا كم أنا كيف أنا وجد أنا فقد

أنا ذات أنا وصف أنا قرب أنا بعد

كل كون ذاك كوني أنا وحدي أنا فرد

Remove yourself, Hafez!

Posted on June 20, 2015 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Hafez

Translation:

Come! For last night, the tavern’s unseen voice told me

to be pleased with the divine decree and not to flee from destiny

Between Lover and Beloved there is no barrier

You yourself are your own veil, Hafez. Remove yourself!

Original:

بیا که هاتف میخانه دوش با من گفت

که در مقام رضا باش و از قضا مگریز

میان عاشق و معشوق هیچ حائل نیست

تو خود حجاب خودی حافظ از میان برخیز

Layla-and-Majnun-Faint-on-Meeting (1)

Translation:

When the bubble fills its head with the air of arrogance

It blows its head off as it rises to the top of the wine

You are the obstacle on the road, Hafez, get out of the way!

Blessed is he who walks on this road without obstacle.

Original:

حباب را چو فتد باد نخوت اندر سر

کلاه داریش اندر سر شراب رود

حجاب راه تویی حافظ از میان برخیز

خوشا کسی که در این راه بی‌حجاب رود

nizamiblack

Full poems

Translation:

My heart is bound to that wild, coquettish gypsy

who breaks promises, and kills, and is false

May a thousand robes of of virtue and cloaks of chastity

be sacrificed for the patched frock of the moon-faced

Angels do not know what love is, O Saqi

ask for a cup and pour rose water on Adam’s dust

I am the slave of those words that kindle fire

not those words that pour cold water on the flames

I came to your door poor and tired. Have mercy!

I have no excuse save my love for you

Don’t be proud of your cleverness, for as it is said,

there are many reasons for the command that deposes as king

Tie a cup to my shroud, so that on the morn of resurrection

I can wash away the terror of the day from my heart with wine

Come! For last night, the tavern’s unseen voice told me

to be pleased with the divine decree and not to flee from destiny

Between Lover and Beloved there is no barrier

You yourself are your own veil, Hafez. Remove yourself from in between.

Original:

دلم رمیده لولی‌وشیست شورانگیز

دروغ وعده و قتال وضع و رنگ آمیز

فدای پیرهن چاک ماه رویان باد

هزار جامه تقوا و خرقه پرهیز

خیال خال تو با خود به خاک خواهم برد

که تا ز خال تو خاکم شود عبیرآمیز

فرشته عشق نداند که چیست ای ساقی

بخواه جام و گلابی به خاک آدم ریز

غلام آن كلماتم كه آتش انگيزد

نه آب سرد زند در سخن به آتش تيز

فقیر و خسته به درگاهت آمدم رحمی

که جز ولای توام نیست هیچ دست آویز

مباش غره به بازى خود كه در خبرست

هزار تعبيه در حكم پادشاه انگيز

پياله بر كفنم بند تا سحرگه حشر

به مى ز دل ببرم هول روز رستاخيز

بیا که هاتف میخانه دوش با من گفت

که در مقام رضا باش و از قضا مگریز

میان عاشق و معشوق هیچ حائل نیست

تو خود حجاب خودی حافظ از میان برخیز

Translation:

When I touch the tip of her tress, it upsets her

and If I apologize, she blames me

Like the new moon, with the corner of her eyebrow

she entices helpless bystanders and then hides behind a veil

On the night of wine, she ruins me with wakefulness

And if I complain by day, she goes to sleep

O heart, the way of love is full of trouble and tumult

He who hurries along this road stumbles

Do not trade begging at the beloved’s door for sovereignty

Does anyone go form the shade of this door to the sun?

When the blackness of hair is finished

it whiteness does not decrease even if a hundred choices are made

When the bubble fills its head with the air of arrogance

It blows its head off as it rises to the top of the wine

You are the obstacle on the road, Hafez, get out of the way!

Blessed is he who walks on this road without obstacle.

Original:

چو دست بر سر زلفش زنم به تاب رود

ور آشتی طلبم با سر عتاب رود

چو ماه نو ره بیچارگان نظاره

زند به گوشه ابرو و در نقاب رود

شب شراب خرابم کند به بیداری

وگر به روز شکایت کنم به خواب رود

طریق عشق پرآشوب و فتنه است ای دل

بیفتد آن که در این راه با شتاب رود

گدایی در جانان به سلطنت مفروش

کسی ز سایه این در به آفتاب رود

سواد نامه موی سیاه چون طی شد

بیاض کم نشود گر صد انتخاب رود

حباب را چو فتد باد نخوت اندر سر

کلاه داریش اندر سر شراب رود

حجاب راه تویی حافظ از میان برخیز

خوشا کسی که در این راه بی‌حجاب رود

Persian Visual Poems

Posted on May 23, 2015 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Hafez’s poetry and Persian Miniatures come to life:

Hafez:

Translation:

Love’s minstel has wonderful harmony and melody

Every song in his repertoire has a path to a place

May the world never be empty of the cry of lovers

Because it has a sweet and joyful voice

Although our dreg-draining Pir has neither gold nor force,

He has a sin-forgiving and fault-concealing God

My heart was honoured like this sugar-worshipping fly

Since he became Your desire, he has the splendor of the Huma

It is not far from justice, if the king asks around

about his neighbor the beggar

I showed my bloody tears to the physicians, they said:

“It’s love’s pain and the burning of the liver has the cure”

Avoid the tyranny of glances, for in Love’s way

Each act has a recompense, and every deed, a reward

That idol of a Christian wine-seller said well:

“Enjoy the happiness on the face of a pure one”

O Great King! Hafiz, a member of your court, recites the fatiha

And desires a prayer from your tongue

Original:

مطرب عشق عجب ساز و نوایی دارد

نقش هر نغمه که زد راه به جایی دارد

عالم از ناله عشاق مبادا خالی

که خوش آهنگ و فرح بخش صدايى دارد

پیر دردی کش ما گر چه ندارد زر و زور

خوش عطابخش و خطاپوش خدایی دارد

محترم دار دلم کاین مگس قندپرست

تا هواخواه تو شد فر همایی دارد

از عدالت نبود دور گرش پرسد حال

پادشاهی که به همسایه گدایی دارد

اشک خونین بنمودم به طبیبان گفتند

درد عشق است و جگرسوز دوایی دارد

ستم از غمزه میاموز که در مذهب عشق

هر عمل اجری و هر کرده جزایی دارد

نغز گفت آن بت ترسابچه باده فروش

شادی روی کسی خور که صفایی دارد

خسروا حافظ درگاه نشین فاتحه خواند

و از زبان تو تمنای دعایی دارد

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

Original:

تا سر زلف تو در دست نسیم افتادست

دل سودازده از غصه دو نیم افتادست

چشم جادوی تو خود عین سواد سحر است

لیکن این هست که این نسخه سقیم افتادست

در خم زلف تو آن خال سیه دانی چیست

نقطه دوده که در حلقه جیم افتادست

زلف مشکین تو در گلشن فردوس عذار

چیست طاووس که در باغ نعیم افتادست

دل من در هوس روی تو ای مونس جان

خاک راهیست که در دست نسیم افتادست

همچو گرد این تن خاکی نتواند برخاست

از سر کوی تو زان رو که عظیم افتادست

سایه قد تو بر قالبم ای عیسی دم

عکس روحیست که بر عظم رمیم افتادست

آن که جز کعبه مقامش نبد از یاد لبت

بر در میکده دیدم که مقیم افتادست

حافظ گمشده را با غمت ای یار عزیز

اتحادیست که در عهد قدیم افتادست

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

Original:

یارم چو قدح به دست گیرد

بازار بتان شکست گیرد

هر کس که بدید چشم او گفت

کو محتسبی که مست گیرد

در بحر فتاده‌ام چو ماهی

تا یار مرا به شست گیرد

در پاش فتاده‌ام به زاری

آیا بود آن که دست گیرد

خرم دل آن که همچو حافظ

جامی ز می الست گیرد

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

This is the night of union and the tale of separation is at an end

Therein is peace until the break of dawn.

O heart, be steadfast in love

For on this path, no work is without reward.

I will not repent of my dissolute ways.

even if you punish me with banishment and separation.

My heart left, but I did not see the face of the sweetheart

weeping from this disdain and oh, from this grief.

Oh heart-illuminating morning, arise for God’s sake.

For the night of separation looks dark to me.

Hafez, if you want fidelity, endure cruelty

for there is gain and loss in trade.

Truly we sent it down in the Night of Power

And what shall apprise thee of the Night of Power?

The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.

The Angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the leave of their Lord, with every command

Peace it is until the break of dawn.

Translation:

With your black eyelashes, you poked thousands of holes in my faith

Come, let me pick thousands of pains from your lovesick eyes.

O companion of the heart who has forgotten your friends

Let there be no day when I am without your memory.

The world is old and without foundation—Alas, the fraud and deceit

of this killer of Farhad has made me tired of my sweet life.

The fire of separation drowned me in sweat like the rose

O dawn wind, bring a breeze from the one who wipes my sweat.

I sacrifice the ephemeral and eternal worlds for the young beauty and the Saqi

for I see the sultanate of the world as a parasite of love.

If the Friend chooses another in my place, the choice is His

But God forbid that I choose my life in place of the Friend.

The nightingale sang good morning. Where are you, Saqi? Arise!

For the memory of last night’s dream clamors in my head.

On the night of death, I shall go from my bed to the huri’s palace

if I you are the candle at my bedside as I surrender my soul.

The story of longing that became recorded in this book

is wholly without fault, for Hafez taught it to me.

Ghazal 355:

Translation:

The way I see it, the best thing for me to do now is:

to go to the tavern and sit there happily.

Having no friend nor companion save my book and a cup

so that I see less of the deceitful colleagues.

I boasted of piety so much in my stained robe

that I am shamed by the Saqi’s face and the colorful wine.

I will take the cup of wine and stay away from the hypocrites

That is, of the people of the world, I will choose the one with a pure heart.

If it be possible to gather up my skirt from this world,

I will freely raise my head up above the people like a cypress.

My heart has the dust of many cruelties

O God, do not allow this mirror which is accustomed to love to be tarnished.

If I am the rascal of the tavern or the Hafez of the city,

I am that which you see or even less.

My straightened chest and the burden of his grief? Impossible.

My wretched heart is no match for this heavy burden.

I am the slave of the Asaf of the age. Do not mislead my heart.

For if I complain of the wheel, he will avenge me thereon.

I will not renounce love, the young beauty, and the cup of wine

I repented a hundred times and will do so no more.

The garden of paradise, the shade of Tuba, and the palace of heavenly maidens,

I will not compare them to the dust of the friend’s street.

The teaching and guidance of men of vision is but an allusion

I said this as a metaphor and will not repeat it again.

I am never conscious of my own head

until I raise it in the middle of a tavern.

The advisor tauntingly told me not to drink wine, it is forbidden.

I said alright. But I do not listen to every donkey.

The Shaykh told me angrily, “Stop falling in love!”

There is no need to quarrel, brother. I will not.

This much piety is enough for me that I do not wink at

the beautiful youths of the city from the top of the pulpit.

Hafez, the Magian Pīr’s side is a stately place

I will not give up kissing the dust of this door.

Hafez sang:

بلبلى خون جگر خورد و گلى حاصل كرد باد غيرت به صادش خار پريشان دل كرد طوطيى را به خيال شكرى دل خوش بود ناگهش سيل فنا نقش امل باطل كرد

Ode to a Nightingale

Translation:

Weep, O Nightingale, if you wish to be my friend

For we are two helpless lovers, whose work is weeping

In that land where the breeze blows from the beloved’s locks

what room is there for boasting of the musk of Tartar?

بلبلى خون جگر خورد و گلى حاصل كرد
باد غيرت به صادش خار پريشان دل كرد
طوطيى را به خيال شكرى دل خوش بود
ناگهش سيل فنا نقش امل باطل كرد