Monthly Archives: June 2013

The little shaykh from the land of Meknes

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a little gem from Shushtari…

Translation:
A little shaykh from the land of Meknes
in the middle of the markets singing:
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

What do I care, my friend
about the whole creation?
Do good, be saved and follow
the people of realities
My son, don’t say a word, unless it is sincere
Take my words and write them down as an amulet from me

 

What do I care about people
What do they care about me?
This speech is clear and needs no explanation
What does anyone care for another?
Understand this advice
Look at how old I am, with my walking stick and my sack
That’s how I lived in Fes
and that’s how I am here
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

How beautiful are his words
as he wanders the markets
You’ll see the merchants turn towards him
a bag around his neck
with a cane and a palm basket
The little shaykh stands on solid ground
as firmly as God wills
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

If you could see that little shaykh,
how fine is his message
He turned to me and said:
I see you’re following me.
I put out my basket
May the one who has mercy on me bless it
And he puts it out
and says: leave me be, leave me be
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

My son, those who do good
reap nothing but good
they reflect on their mistakes
and renounce their shameful deeds
Whoever is like me
will stay a stranger
Those whose spirit is sweet
Can forgive the singer
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

A little shaykh from the land of Meknes
in the middle of the markets singing:
What do I care about people
What do they care about me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original:

شويخ من ارض مكناس وسط الاسواق يغني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

اش عليا يا صاحب من جميع الخلايق
افعل الخير تنجو واتبع اهل الحقايق
لا تقول يا ابني كلمة إلا أن كنت صادق
خذ كلامي في قرطاس واكتبه حرز عني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

ثم قول مبين ولا يحتاج عبارة
اش على حد من حد افهموا ذي الإشارة وانظروا كبر سني والعصا والغرارة
هكذا عشت في فاس وكذاك آنا هوني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

وما احسن كلامه إذا يخطر في الاسواق وترى اهل الحوانيت يلفتوا لو بالاعناق
بغرارة في عنقه وعكيكز ورقراق شويخ مبني على ساس كما ان شاء الله مبني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

لو ترى ذا الشويخ ما أرقوا بمعنى
التفت لي وقلي أش نراك تتبعنا أنا ننصب لي زنبيل يرحموا من رحمنا
وأقاموا بين اجناس ويقول دعني دعني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

من عمل يا بني طيب ما يصيب إلا طيب لعيوبوا سينظر وفعالوا يعيب
والمقارب بحالي يبقى برا مسيب من معوا طيبة انفاس يدري عذر المغني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

شويخ من أرض مكناس وسط الأسواق يغني
اش علي انا من الناس واش على الناس مني

 

 

Love beyond words…

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Ibn al-Fāriḍ
In the art of describing his beauty, time itself expires
and yet still there remains in him, what has not been described

 

وعـلى تَـفَنّنِ واصِـفيهِ بِحُسْنِهِ          يَـفنى الـزّمانُ وفيه ما لم يُوصف

 


Anon.

A robe woven from the cloth of 29 letters
would still fall short of his glory

 

ألا أنّ ثوبا خيط من نسج تسعة     وعشرين حرفاً من معاليه قاصر


 

Whoever’s tasted the drink of our people knows it
And will only pour the purest wine
Passing out, he’ll know the outcome of his oblivion
And whoever realizes this tomorrow will give his soul for it

 

من ذاق طعم شراب القوم يدريه      ولم يروق رحيقاً غير صافيه

يغمى عليه فيدري غب غيبته     ومن دراه غدا بالروح يشريه

 Rumi

 

 

Whatever description or explanation I give of love
when I reach love, I am ashamed of it
Although the description of the tongue clarifies
love that is tongueless is of grater clarity
As the pen hastened to write
when it came to love, it split on itself
In describing love, Reason becomes mired
like an ass in mud
It is love alone, it is love alone
which has explained love and being in love

 

Original:

هرچه گویم عشق را شرح و بیان
چون به عشق آیم خجل باشم از آن
گرچه تفسیر زبان روشنگرست
لیک عشق بی‌زبان روشنترست
چون قلم اندر نوشتن می‌شتافت
چون به عشق آمد قلم بر خود شکافت
عقل در شرحش چو خر در گل بخفت
شرح عشق و عاشقی هم عشق گفت

Hafez:

The tongue of the pen cannot express the mystery of love
The description of longing is beyond the limits of writing

 

قلم را ان زبان نبود كه سرّ عشق گويد باز
وراى حدّ تقرير است شرح ارزومندى

 

Hafez says, “Shatter”

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Translation:

 

Give us love’s flirtatious look and shatter sorcery’s bazaar
With but a seductive glance, shatter wealthy Samer’s law
Give both the head and turban of the whole world to the wind
That is, let your hair down, let the heart-breaking begin
Tell the lock of hair to give up its bold arrogance
“Shatter the cruel heart,” tell the flirting glance
Come out and steal the ball of beauty from every last player
Beat the houris and the glory of the angels shatter
With your doe-eyes, steal the glance of the sun’s lion
With your curved eyebrows, shatter the bow of jupiter
When with the breath of wind, the flowers sweetly bloom
Shatter their worth with your locks of hair’s amber perfume
When the nightingale boasts of being in eloquence, first
O Hafez, shatter his rank, by reciting Persian verse

 

غزل 399- 

 

Original:

 

کرشمه‌ای کن و بازار ساحری بشکن            به غمزه رونق و ناموس سامری بشکن
به باد ده سر و دستار عالمی یعنی                      کلاه گوشه به آیین دلبرری بشکن
به زلف گوی که آیین دلبری بگذار               به غمزه گوی که قلب ستمگری بشکن
برون خرام و ببر گوی خوبی از همه کس               سزای حور بده رونق پری بشکن
به آهوان نظر شیر آفتاب بگیر                         به ابروان دوتا قوس مشتری بشکن
چو عطرسای شود زلف سنبل از دم باد              تو قیمتش به سر زلف عنبری بشکن
چو عندلیب فصاحت فروشد ای حافظ
تو قدر او به سخن گفتن دری بشکن

You seek Layla

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Translation:

You seek Layla, but she reveals herself within you
You think she’s other, but she’s not other than you
And that’s a madness that is apparent to the cult of lovers
So be careful, for otherness is the essence of being cut off
Don’t you see how her beauty envelops you?
She disappears only when you reject part of yourself
“Come close to me,” you say to she who is your All
And when she loves you, she leads you to yourself
Meeting her is bliss beyond description
and none reach her, save those who see meaning without forms
I was so in love with her that I would have vanished in her love
had she not sworn that I only obey her
I concealed her from people with fantasy
After having revealed her, truly, inside my cloak.
I hid her from myself, with the robe of my worlds,
And from my envy, out of the severity of my jealousy
O Dazzling beauty! Should the light of your face
Touch the eyes of a blind man, he would see every atom
She is adorned with each and every charm and grace of beauty
And wherever she appears, she is desired by those who love.

 

Original:

أَتَطلُبُ لَيلى وَهيَ فيكَ تَجَلَّت                  وَتَحسَبُها غَيراً وَغَيرُكَ لَيسَتِ

فَذابلُهُ في مِلَّةِ الحُبِّ ظاهِرٌ                   فَكُن فَطِناً فَالغيرُ عَينُ القَطيعَةِ

أَلَم تَرَها أَلقَت عَلَيكَ جَمالَها               وَلَو لَم تَقُم بِالذاتِ مِنكَ اِضمَحَلَّتِ

تَقولُ لَها اُدنُ وَهيَ كُلَّك ثُمَّ إِن                    حَبَتكَ بِوَصلٍ أَوهَمَتكَ تَدَلَّتِ

عَزيزٌ لِقاها لا يَنالُ وِصالَها                 سِوى مَن يَرى مَعنىً بِغَيرِ هَوِيَّةِ

كَلِفت بِها حَتّى فَنِيتُ بِحُبِّها                       فَلَو أَقسَمَت أَنّيَ إِيّاها لَبَرَّتِ

وَغالَطتُ فيها الناسَ بِالوَهمِ بَعدَما                      تَبَيَّنتها حَقّاً بِداخِلِ بُردَتي

وَغَطَّيتُها عَنّي بِثَوبِ عَوالِمي                 وَعَن حاسِدي فيها لِشِدَّةِ غيرَتي

بَديعَة حُسنٍ أَو بَدا نورُ وَجهِها                 إِلى أَكمَهٍ أَضحى يَرى كُلَّ ذَرَّةِ

تحلّت بأنواع الجمال بأسرها                  فهام بها أهل الهوى حيثُ حلّت