This Love is not a River…

Posted on August 13, 2018 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Two of my favorite Fado songs, by two of my favorite singers, Cristina Branco and Carminho:

Translation:

This love is not a river

It has the vastness of the sea

The green dance of the waves

Sobbing in my eyes.

I tried to forget the words

Unspoken between us

But hanging over the silence

On the shores of our voice

I tried to forget your eyes

That do not know how to read mine

But in them is born the daybreak

That dawns on the earth and the heavens

I tried to forget your name

Pluck it from my thoughts

But it returns at every instant

Entwined in the wind.

I tried to see my image

But it was yours that I saw

In my mirror, for I bear

Your flat eyes.

This love is not a river

It has abysses like the sea

And the black mantle of the waves

Shrouds me in blackness

This love is not a river

It has the vastness of the sea

Original:

Este amor não é um rio

Tem a vastidão do mar

A dança verde das ondas

Soluça no meu olhar

Tentei esquecer as palavras

Nunca ditas entre nós

Mas pairam sobre o silencio

Nas margens da nossa voz

Tentei esquecer os teus olhos

Que não sabem ler nos meus

Mas neles nasce a alvorada

Que amanhece a terra e os céus

Tentei esquecer o teu nome

Arrancá-lo ao pensamento

Mas regressa a todo o instante

Entrelaçado no vento

Tentei ver a minha imagem

Mas foi a tua que vi

No meu espelho, porque trago

Os olhos rasos de ti

Este amor não é um rio

Tem abismos como o mar

E o manto negro das ondas

Cobre-me de negro o olhar

Este amor não é um rio

Tem a vastidão do mar

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/fado-perdi%C3%A7%C3%A3o-perdition-fado.html

Translation:

I wrote your name on the wind

convinced that I was writing it

on the page of forgetfulness

that in the wind

it would get lost

On the page of forgetfulness

that in the wind it would get lost

And on seeing it go

covered in dust

I considered my heart free

of the bonds of your love

I considered my heart free

of the bonds of your love

Poor me!

I never even thought

that just like me

the wind would fall in love

with that name that is yours

The wind would fall in love

with that name that is yours

As the wind stirs up, so does my pain get stirred up

I want to forget you, believe me

But there is always more wind

I want to forget you

but there is always more wind

Rumi

Translation:

Love is the One who masters all things;
I am mastered totally by Love.
By my passion of love for Love
I have ground sweet as sugar.
O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you;
How could I know where I will be blown next?
Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny
Reveals himself a liar and a fool;
What is any of us but a straw in a storm?
How could anyone make a pact with a hurricane?
God is working everywhere his massive Resurrection;
How can we pretend to act on our own?
In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack;
Sometimes Love hoists me into the air,
Sometimes Love flings me into the air,
Love swings me round and round His head;
I have no peace, in this world or any other.
The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river;
They have surrendered themselves to Love’s commands.
Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night,
Constantly turning and turning, and crying out.

Original:

If I could see you I would die

and if I died, then I’d see you

I can’t stop, even though I’ve tried

from staring, drowning, in your eyes

Without you all I see are lies

and so my beautiful, that’s why

approaching you, I’m terrified

and yet, still more scared am I

of losing sight of you, my life

In death, I see you with your eyes

awake, you peer out within mine

your love swallowed the whole world up

and burned down my soul and my mind

even my love burned up in yours

it ate up all space and all time

so there’s no inside nor outside

there’s just your side, nothing to find

nothing to say, free, pay no mind

hearing no ears, seeing no eyes

all knots and thoughts simply unwind

as your sword falls, gentler than kind

there’s no one left to realize

Just your dark beauty, shining bright

in each and every lover’s sight

in every tale, in every plight

in all that’s wrong and all that’s right

beneath the depths, above the heights

through all the days, over the nights

you hold my soul closer than tight

and unseen, you perceive the sights

Love’s river floods mine out of sight

Love’s flames burn bodies into light

Love’s kiss turns death back into life

Love conquers all by its sweet might

And so whence my despair or fright?

when all my pains and all delights

are but you, your love and love bites

that bear aloft my soul’s fair kite

and put to shame all that I write

More fado…

Posted on May 7, 2015 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Translation:

Lady of Nazareth, pray for me,
I am also a fisherman walking on the sea.
Off life’s dock in endless waves,
I’ve seen my little boat of dreams sinking perpetually.
My nets cast with confidence,
I hauled in only disappointments on a bad sea.
I lost the rudder of hope,
I can not row well.
Lady of Nazareth, pray for me.

Original:

Senhora da Nazaré, rogai por mim,
Também sou um pescador que anda no mar.
Ao largo da vida aproei nas vagas sem fim,
Vi o meu barquito de sonhos sempre a naufragar.
As minhas redes lancei com confiança,
Colhi só desilusões num mar ruim.
Perdi o leme da esperança,
Eu não sei remar assim.
Senhora da Nazaré, rogai por mim.

Oshiokuri_Hato_Tsusen_no_Zu

Translation:

This flock of seagulls
Plays on each tide
That sea of still water
that feeds my faith

The boats will come
The boats will go
This whole pier is a world
This whole pier is a world
Which I don’t wat to flee

On the edge of the pier, whoever sees me already knows me
I am like this so you won’t miss me
It is the ocean from which you will come
on the edge of the pier, I have my destiny now
Always awaiting the time when
you will return one day

Some think I am not right
But I don’t really care
I am not coming here

So that you will come back faster

But it has given me this habit
That I have not lost till today
by the sea, I believe
by the sea, I believe
That I am closer to you

Original:

Esse bando de gaivotas
Brincando em cada maré
Esse mar de água parada
Que alimenta a minha fé

Os barcos que vão chegar
Os barcos que vão partir
Todo este cais é um mundo
Todo este cais é um mundo
Donde não quero fugir

À beira do cais, quem me vê já me conhece
Sou a tal que não se esquece
Que é do mar que tu virás
À beira do cais, tenho o meu destino agora
Estou sempre à espera da hora
Em que um dia voltarás

Há quem não ache acertado
Mas a mim, pouco me interessa
Que não é por vir aqui
Que tu voltas mais depressa

Mas ficou-me este costume
Que ainda hoje não perdi
Junto ao mar, eu acredito
Junto ao mar, eu acredito
Que estou mais perto de ti

waves

Japanese_Woodblock-moonlight

The Broken Mirror

Translation:

With his whip, the wind
Shatters the mirror of the lake.
In me more violent was
The damage

Because the wind in passing
Whispered your name
and after murmuring,
Left me.

So rapidly it passed
Not knowing it had destroyed me
The heartbreak in which I am
So fixed.

But its passing
In the glass of the lake
cutting my image
Enthralls me.

The crystal liquid
From my eyes without you,
In vain I asked the gale,

In order to break
The mirror, that mourned me
I remained with a tearless face

O my eyes without you, without you
More violent within me was
The wind.

Original:

Com o seu chicote, o vento
Quebra o espelho do lago.
Em mim foi mais violento
O estrago

Porque o vento ao passar
Murmurou o teu nome
Depois de o murmurar,
Deixou-me.

Tão rápido passou
Nem soube destruir-me
Nas magoas em que sou
Tão firme.

Mas a sua passagem
Em vidro recortava
No lago a minha imagem
De escrava.

Ò liquido cristal
Dos meus olhos sem ti,
Em vão um vendaval,
Pedi,

Para que se quebrasse
O espelho que me enluta
E me ficasse a face
Enxuta.

Ai meus olhos sem ti sem ti
Em mim foi mais violento, o vento

From: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/espelho-quebrado-broken-mirror.html#ixzz3ZZsXMCwe

img_suzuki004_zoom

Translation:

Perhaps one day you will tell me what you want,
Perhaps you would not want to say it anyway,
Perhaps you will pass a hand through my hair,
Perhaps you may not think of me waiting for it.

Perhaps, this being so, it would be better,
Missing our meeting by a hair,
Perhaps you will not pamper me as I want,
Perhaps we don’t know our own hearts

But I’m not certain, that you could give responses.
I live only for repeated whispers,
Of deceit of the soul and hunger of the senses.
Perhaps it’s cruel, perhaps, perhaps.

If you give nothing, then, I will give you nothing
In this to-ing and fro-ing that we keep up,
And if our real longings are contrived,
Perhaps I might not know who you are but I know who I am.

Original:

Talvez digas um dia o que me queres
Talvez não queiras afinal dizê-lo
Talvez passes a mão no meu cabelo
Talvez eu pense em ti talvez me esperes

Talvez, sendo isto assim, fosse melhor
Falhar-se o nosso encontro por um triz
Talvez não me afagasses como eu quis
Talvez não nos soubéssemos de cor

Mas não sei bem, respostas não mas dês
Vivo só de murmúrios repetidos
De enganos de alma e fome dos sentidos
Talvez seja cruel, talvez, talvez

Se nada dás, porém, nada te dou
Neste vaivém que sempre nos sustenta
E se a própria saudade nos inventa
Não sei talvez quem és mas sei quem sou

From http://lyricstranslate.com/en/talvez-perhaps.html#ixzz3ZZrnuw5F

Translation:

Damn sheet, obey
The hands that you do not deserve
The poet’s lies
All the blackness of the strokes
Describing a thousand hugs,
Stories of an open door

Only you know, white sheet
The art of making airtight
This sap the truth
He told me stories of love
This poor pretender
He made me believe that I longed for him

And, oh sheet surrendered to
the hand which in farewell
Says goodbye without parting
Will tell everyone
That he who pretends what he really feels is
My lost poet

Original:

Folha maldita, obedeces
Às mãos que nem tu mereces
Às mentiras do poeta
Toda a negrura dos traços
Descreveram mil abraços
Histórias de uma porta aberta

Só tu sabes, folha branca
A arte de tornar estanque
Essa seiva da verdade
Contou-me histórias de amor
Esse pobre fingidor
Fez-me crer que tem saudade

E tu, oh folha rendida
À mão que na despedida
Diz adeus sem ter partido
Vai dizer a toda a gente
Que finge o que deveras sente
O meu poeta perdido

Translation:

Perhaps the same road
Is darker now,
Perhaps the sun in its lonesome wandering
Is chasing after the cold

In silence a heart
Awakens the empty house,
It doesn’t allow the illusion
To feign the pain it carried

Yet I insist upon showing
That love disappears
From a life that is waking up
From a life that is falling asleep

Perhaps the light doesn’t want
To say anything to the one who left
Perhaps in its own way
It’s saying goodbye to what it felt

Original:

Talvez o mesmo caminho
Seja agora mais sombrio,
Talvez por andar sozinho
Corre o sol atrás do frio.

Em silêncio um coração
Acorda a casa vazia,
Não permite a ilusão
Fingir a dor que trazia.

Porem insisto em mostrar
Que o amor desaparece
Numa vida a despertar
Noutra vida que adormece.

Talvez a lua não queira
Dizer nada a quem partiu
Talvez à sua maneira
Diga adeus ao que sentiu.
From: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/uma-vida-noutra-vida-life-other-life.html#ixzz3ZZqSJMhT

women in zigzagwell

Blow winds, blow

Posted on February 16, 2014 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Ḥallāj:

Translation (a bit of license taken):

O wind of the dawn, I say to the gazelle

it only makes me thirstier, the water of this well

I have a beloved whose love lives within me

And if she likes, she walks on my cheeks as well

Her spirit is my spirit and my spirit is her spirit

If she wills, I want, and if I want, she wills

Original:

يا نَسيمَ الريح قولي لِلرَشا لَم يَزِدني الوِردُ إلا عَطشا

لي حَبيبٌ حُبُّهُ وَسطَ الحَشا إِن يَشَأ يَمشي عَلى خَدّي مَشى

روحُهُ روحي وَروحي روحُهُ إِن يَشَأ شِئتُ وَإِن شِئتُ يَشا

Ibn ‘Arabi:

Lyrics from Ibn ‘Arabi’s tarjuman al-ashwaq:

ألا يا نسيم الريح بلغ مها نجد بأني على ما تعلمون من العهد

فان كان حقا ما تقول و عندها إليّ من الشوق المبرّح ما عندي

إليها ففي حرّ الظهيرة نلتقي بخيمتها سرا على أصدق الوعد

Translation:

O Morning breeze, go tell the gazelles of Najd

that, “I’m true to the vow you know of”

And if what she says is true and she

has for me the desperate longing I have

for her, then in the heat of noon we’ll meet

in her tent secretly, with the most sincere promise

Hafez:

Translation:

The dawn breeze of your curling tress keeps me drunk constantly

the magic of your charming eyes keeps me wasted always

After so many night vigils, O Lord, will I ever be able to light

the candle of my sight at the mihrab of your eyebrow?

The black of the tablet of my vision is precious to me

Because, for my soul, it is a copy of your black mole

If you want to adorn the whole world forever

Tell the morning wind to lift the veil from your face for a while

If you want to banish all traces of fidelity from the world

Let down your hair, and let thousands of souls fall from every strand

The morning wind and I are two poor, hopeless wanderers

I from the magic of your intoxicating eyes, and he from the scent of your hair

How great is Hafez’s focus! For nothing in this world or the next

appeared in his eye save for the dust of your street.

Original:

مدامم مست مي دارد نسيم جعد گيسويت

خرابم مي کند هر دم فريب چشم جادويت

پس از چندين شکيبايي شبي يا رب توان ديدن

که شمع ديده افروزيم در محراب ابرويت

سواد لوح بينش را عزيز از بهر آن دارم

که جان را نسخه اي باشد ز لوح خال هندويت

تو گر خواهي که جاويدان جهان يک سر بيارايي

صبا را گو که بردارد زماني برقع از رويت

و گر رسم فنا خواهي که از عالم براندازي

برافشان تا فروريزد هزاران جان ز هر مويت

من و باد صبا مسکين دو سرگردان بي حاصل

من از افسون چشمت مست و او از بوي گيسويت

زهي همت که حافظ راست از دنيي و از عقبي

نيايد هيچ در چشمش بجز خاک سر کويت

Translation:

O dawn breeze, where is the friend’s place of rest?

Where is the home of that lover-slaying beauty?

Original:

ای نسیم سحر آرامگه یار کجاست

منزل آن مه عاشق کش عیار کجاست

Translation:

All night I hope that the the dawn breeze will caress

this friend with a message from the friends

Original:

همه شب در این امیدم که نسیم صبحگاهی

به پیام آشنایان بنوازد آشنا را

Rumi:

Coleman Barks’ “Translation”:

No one knows what makes the soul wake up

so happy! Maybe a dawn breeze

has blown the veil from the face of God.

A thousand new moons appear.

Roses open laughing.

Hearts become perfect rubies

like those from Badakshan.

The body turns entirely spirit.

Leaves become branches in this wind.

Why is it now so easy to surrender,

even for those already surrendered?

There’s no answer to any of this.

No one knows the source of joy.

A poet breathes into a reed flute,

and the tip of every hair makes music.

Shams sails down clods of dirt from the roof,

and we take jobs as doorkeepers for him.

Original:

مگر این دم سر آن زلف پریشان شدهاست

که چنین مشک تتاری عبرافشان شده است

مگر از چهره او باد صبا پرده ربود

که هزاران قمر غیب درخشان شده است

هست جانی که ز بوی خوش او شادان نیست

گر چه جان بو نبرد کو ز چه شادان شده است

ای بسا شاد گلی کز دم حق خندان است

لیک هر جان بنداند ز چه خندان شده است

آفتاب رخش امروز زهی خوش که بتافت

که هزاران دل از او لعل بدخشان شده است

عاشق آخر ز چه رو تا به ابد دل ننهد

بر کسی کز لطفش تن همگی جان شده است

مگرش دل سحری دید بدان سان که وی است

که از آن دیدنش امروز بدین سان شده است

تا بدیده است دل آن حسن پری زاد مرا

شیشه بر دست گرفته است و پری خوان شده است

بر درخت تن اگر باد خوشش می‌نوزد

پس دو صد برگ دو صد شاخ چه لرزان شده است

بهر هر کشته او جان ابد گر نبود

جان سپردن بر عاشق ز چه آسان شده است

از حیات و خبرش باخبران بی‌خبرند

که حیات و خبرش پرده ایشان شده است

گر نه در نای دلی مطرب عشقش بدمید

هر سر موی چو سرنای چه نالان شده است

شمس تبریز ز بام ار نه کلوخ اندازد

سوی دل پس ز چه جان‌هاش چو دربان شده است

Carminho

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

Me:

O wind of the dawn

Blow into my breast

Make the embers of my heart

Rise up from their death

O wind of the dawn

Blow into my breast

Sway my veins and let them shake

Love’s birds out from their nests

O wind of the dawn

Blow into my breast

Make my blood ripple

your reflection with your breath

O wind of the dawn

my heart’s caught in your grasp

your spirit’s within

whirling round inside it trapped

You can’t hold it in

and I can’t give it back

whisper something in my ear

take my soul with each gasp

Ibn ‘Arabi, Hallaj, and Carminho

Posted on March 19, 2013 by sulaymanibnqiddees

When my Beloved appears,

with what eye do I see Him?

With His eye not with mine;

for no one sees Him except Himself.

-Ibn ‘Arabi

Original:

إذا تجلى حبيبي

بأي عين تراه
بعينه لا بعيني

فما يراه سواه

Hallaj:

I saw my Lord with the eye of my Heart,

I said, “Who are thou?” He answered, “Thou.”

Thus where no where hath, as from Thee,

Nor is there, as to Thee, a where.

Thous giv’st imagining no image

For it to imagine where Thou art.

Thou art He who hath filled all where,

and beyond all where. Where art Thou then?

Translation: Martin Lings. Sufi Poems

Original:

رَأَيـتُ رَبّـي بِـعَينِ قَلبي فَـقُلتُ مَـن أَنتَ قالَ أَنتَ

فَـلَيسَ لِـلأَينِ مِـنكَ أَيـنٌ وَلَـيسَ أَيـنٌ بِـحَيثُ أَنتَ

أَنـتَ الَّـذي حُزتَ كُلَّ أَينٍ بِـنَحوِ لا أَيـن ثـم أَنـتَ

فَـفي فَـنائي فَـنا فَـنائي وَفـي فَـنائي وُجِدتَ أَنتَ

في مَحو اِسمي وَرَسمِ جِسمي سَـأَلتُ عَـني فَـقُلتُ أَنتَ

أَنـتَ حَـياتي وَسِـرُّ قَلبي فَـحَيثُما كُـنتُ كُـنتَ أَنتَ

فَـمُـنَّ بِـالعَفوِ يـا إِلَـهي فَـلَيسَ أَرجـو سِواكَ أَنتَ

Carminho:

My Sweetheart

He is going to possess me
Not possess me
In some corner
It is like water flowing,
Flowing to the end,
It is so much that he wants me.
My sweetheart
My sweetheart
My home
Is where you want to live.

He is going to illuminate me
Not illuminate me
A shortcut at least.
I know that he is going to lead me
Leading softly
Along the way that I want to go.
My sweetheart
My sweetheart
My home is where you want to live.

I see my darling with his eyes
And it is with my eyes
That my darling sees me

My sweetheart
My sweetheart
My home
Is where you want to live.

Translation from: http://lyricstranslate.com

Meu namorado

Ele vai-me possuindo
Não me possuindo
Num canto qualquer
É como as águas fluindo
Fluindo até ao fim
É bem assim que ele me quer
Meu namorado
Meu namorado
Minha morada
É onde tu quiseres morar

Ele vai-me iluminando
Não iluminando
Um atalho sequer
Sei que ele vai-me guiando
Guiando de mansinho
Pelo caminho que eu quiser
Meu namorado
Meu namorado
É onde tu quiseres morar

Vejo meu bem com seus olhos
E é com meus olhos
Que o meu bem me vê

Meu namorado
Meu namorado
Minha morada
É onde tu quiseres morar

Ibn ‘Arabi:

Listen, O dearly beloved!
I am the reality of the world, the centre of the circumference,
I am the parts and the whole.
I am the will established between Heaven and Earth,
I have created perception in you only in order to be the
object of my perception.
If then you perceive me, you perceive yourself.
But you cannot perceive me through yourself,
It is through my eyes that you see me and see yourself,
Through your eyes you cannot see me.

Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard me
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have not smelled me.
Savorous food, and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me through the object you touch
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me?

Why do you not hear me?
Why? Why? Why?

Translation from: http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/poetry/ibn-arabi-poetry-index.html

a_rare_complete_almoravid_or_almohad_quran_section_spain_or_morocco_12_d5826208_003h

Carminho-Silence is never empty

Posted on February 11, 2013 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Nunca é silêncio vão

Translation:

Silence is never empty
When it is between you and me.
Thinking about whatever may be
All I know is I feel love
When you’re silent with me

Here we are the two of us
Holding hands inside my car
You alway console me that way
Silent, next to me
Watching as I sweep sad things away

And though you might be able to explain
What happens in the heart
Truly everything comes from nothing,
In your silent glance
There is never an empty silence

Original:

Nunca é silencio vão
Esse que tenho contigo.
Pensando nós no que for
Só sei que sinto o amor
Quando te calas comigo.

E lá ficamos os dois
De mãos dadas no meu carro.
Consolas-me sempre assim
Calado junto de mim
Vendo as tristezas que varro.

E por mais que explique bem
O que vai no coração,
É do nada que vem tudo,
Nesse teu olhar tão mudo
Nunca há silencio vão.

translation and lyrics from: http://lyricstranslate.com

Beg for Love.

Consider this burning, and those who

burn, as gifts from the Friend.

Nothing to learn.

Too much has already been said.

When you read a single page from

the silent book of your heart,

you will laugh at all this chattering,

all this pretentious learning.

-Abu Sai’d Abu’l Khayr

It speaks to me in the silence of this one

then through the words of that one speaking;

it whispers to me through an eyebrow raised

and the message of an eye winking.

And do you know what words it breathes into my ear? It says,

“I am Love: in heaven and earth I have no place;

I am the Wondrous Phoenix whose spoor cannot be traced.

With eyebrow-bow and arrow-winks I hunt

both worlds — and yet my weapons cannot be found.

Like the sun I brighten each atom’s cheek;

I cannot be pinpointed: I am too manifest.

I speak with every tongue, listen with all ears,

but marvel at this: My ears and tongue are erased.

Since in all the world only I exist

above and below, no likeness of me can be found.”

-Fakhr ad-Din Iraqi

Secretly we spoke,

that wise one and me.

I said, Tell me the secrets of the world.

He said, Shh… Let silence

Tell you the secrets of the world.

-Rumi

Carminho-My love, the sailor

Posted on November 7, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

I feel jealous
Of the green waves of the sea
That insistently try to kiss
your body, as you stand before the tides.
I feel jealous
Of the wind that betrays me
Kissing you as you stand in the bow,
And runs away through the deck.
I feel jealous
Of the light of the full moon
That curls up around your body
In order to dance with you
I feel jealous
Of the waves that rise along your way
and of the mermaids that sing
That sing to charm you
Oh sailor, my love
Oh lord of my desires
Don’t let the moon at night
Steal the color from your hair
Don’t look at the stars
Because they would steal
The green of your eyes
These eyes color of the sea.

(translation from here)

Original:

Tenho ciúmes,
Das verdes ondas do mar
Que teimam em querer beijar
teu corpo erguido às marés.
Tenho ciúmes
Do vento que me atraiçoa
Que vem beijar-te na proa
E foge pelo convés.
Tenho ciúmes
Do luar da lua cheia
Que no teu corpo se enleia
Para contigo ir bailar
Tenho ciúmes
Das ondas que se levantam
E das sereias que cantam
Que cantam p’ra te encantar.
Ó meu “amor marinheiro”
Amor dos meus anelos
Não deixes que à noite a lua
Roube a côr aos teus cabelos
Não olhes para as estrelas
Porque elas podem roubar
O verde que há nos teus olhos
Teus olhos, da côr do mar.

‘Attar and Carminho

Posted on October 27, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

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

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

Songs from Andalus

Posted on October 13, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Fado: Casa de Fados

(from Carlos Saura’s film Fados)

Lyrics (from the film’s subtitles):

First singer:

A lost friendship can never return

It’s a forged firendship

That jokingly comes and goes

It’s a forged friendship

that jokingly comes and goes

No one gives a thing

If behind that gesture there is no value

Only a friend can give love without receiveing

Second:

My mother I sing tonight

For the day has punished me

And in the silence of things

I find a friendly voice

And in the silence of things

I find a friendly voice

My mother I cry tonight

for the love I am drowning in

For the words of life

Have no other world

For I am this song

Mother, So hurt

I wear this body at night

without fate but with fado

I wear this body at night

without fate but with fado

Third:

Maybe fado will tell me what no one wants to say

That is why I chase it so that I may understand myself

My love I have sung

Under the last sky

Because I surrender myself in every last fado as if it were the first

Maybe fado does not ask me for everything I give it

So even when I forget

It does not forget me

So even when I forget

It does not forget me

Carminho (my favorite):

I cried for not seeing you

For seeing you I cry

I cried for not seeing you

For seeing you I now cry

Harder for wanting

Wanting to see you all the time

Time rushes past

When you talk and I listen

But the hours of our life

Each has a moment

Stay beside me

And never leave

So that my heart poor thing

May live life in an hour

So that my heart poor thing

May live life in an hour

Riberio:

Do not be afraid of fame, ill-famed Alfama

Fame sometimes defames good honorable people

Other guy:

Fadistas come with me

Listen to the street fado

And sing a street duel

In a charming ancient quarter

Riberio:

Let’s go as I have said

You will see when the day dawns

How fun the revelry was

In the old Alfama quarter

Do not be afraid of fame ill-famed Alfama

Other guy:

I know of the world you speak

But surely I know wrong

I know what the world is saying

But surely out of spite

For was it always not true

That tales were told?

Many people there lived

Very quiet lives

Which in a spiteful way are muddied

Fame

Sometimes defames

Good honorable people

Flamenco: Camarón-Rosa Maria

(rough translation of the lyrics)

Country Wildflowers
Water from the clear lagoon
That’s how I describe the colors of your face

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

I envy the flowers
the mirror where you look
the brush of your hair
and the air that you breathe
and the air that you breathe

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

She’s joy and beauty
and grace in her walk
and even your laugh is beautiful
and different from the rest

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

Camarón and Paco de Lucia por Siguriyas

Andalusian mawwal: Omar Metioui-El secreto encuentro

Lyrics from Ibn ‘Arabi’s tarjuman al-ashwaq:

ألا يا نسيم الريح بلغ مها نجد بأني على ما تعلمون من العهد

فان كان حقا ما تقول و عندها إليّ من الشوق المبرّح ما عندي

إليها ففي حرّ الظهيرة نلتقي بخيمتها سرا على أصدق الوعد

If I could see you I would die

and if I died, then I’d see you

I can’t stop, even though I’ve tried

from staring, drowning, in your eyes

Without you all I see are lies

and so my beautiful, that’s why

approaching you, I’m terrified

and yet, still more scared am I

of losing sight of you, my life

In death, I see you with your eyes

awake, you peer out within mine

your love swallowed the whole world up

and burned down my soul and my mind

even my love burned up in yours

it ate up all space and all time

so there’s no inside nor outside

there’s just your side, nothing to find

nothing to say, free, pay no mind

hearing no ears, seeing no eyes

all knots and thoughts simply unwind

as your sword falls, gentler than kind

there’s no one left to realize

Just your dark beauty, shining bright

in each and every lover’s sight

in every tale, in every plight

in all that’s wrong and all that’s right

beneath the depths, above the heights

through all the days, over the nights

you hold my soul closer than tight

and unseen, you perceive the sights

Love’s river floods mine out of sight

Love’s flames burn bodies into light

Love’s kiss turns death back into life

Love conquers all by its sweet might

And so whence my despair or fright?

when all my pains and all delights

are but you, your love and love bites

that bear aloft my soul’s fair kite

and put to shame all that I write

Some think I am not right But I don’t really care I am not coming here

So that you will come back faster

O wind of the dawn, I say to the gazelle

it only makes me thirstier, the water of this well

I have a beloved whose love lives within me

And if she likes, she walks on my cheeks as well

Her spirit is my spirit and my spirit is her spirit

If she wills, I want, and if I want, she wills

يا نَسيمَ الريح قولي لِلرَشا لَم يَزِدني الوِردُ إلا عَطشا

لي حَبيبٌ حُبُّهُ وَسطَ الحَشا إِن يَشَأ يَمشي عَلى خَدّي مَشى

روحُهُ روحي وَروحي روحُهُ إِن يَشَأ شِئتُ وَإِن شِئتُ يَشا

Translation:

O Morning breeze, go tell the gazelles of Najd

that, “I’m true to the vow you know of”

And if what she says is true and she

has for me the desperate longing I have

for her, then in the heat of noon we’ll meet

in her tent secretly, with the most sincere promise

The dawn breeze of your curling tress keeps me drunk constantly

the magic of your charming eyes keeps me wasted always

After so many night vigils, O Lord, will I ever be able to light

the candle of my sight at the mihrab of your eyebrow?

The black of the tablet of my vision is precious to me

Because, for my soul, it is a copy of your black mole

If you want to adorn the whole world forever

Tell the morning wind to lift the veil from your face for a while

If you want to banish all traces of fidelity from the world

Let down your hair, and let thousands of souls fall from every strand

The morning wind and I are two poor, hopeless wanderers

I from the magic of your intoxicating eyes, and he from the scent of your hair

How great is Hafez’s focus! For nothing in this world or the next

appeared in his eye save for the dust of your street.

Original:

مدامم مست مي دارد نسيم جعد گيسويت

خرابم مي کند هر دم فريب چشم جادويت

پس از چندين شکيبايي شبي يا رب توان ديدن

که شمع ديده افروزيم در محراب ابرويت

سواد لوح بينش را عزيز از بهر آن دارم

که جان را نسخه اي باشد ز لوح خال هندويت

تو گر خواهي که جاويدان جهان يک سر بيارايي

صبا را گو که بردارد زماني برقع از رويت

Some think I am not right
But I don’t really care
I am not coming here