This short poem by Ibn al-Farid is exquisite in sound and meaning, and a favorite amongst Sufi singers: Translation: I hide love, while my tears reveal it and I try to kill it, but my passion revives itMy torturer is sweet-natured and delicate and all beauties are gathered in himIt is as if he is,…
Loving you has its nearness and distance
Another beautiful poem by al-Shābb al-Ẓarīf, ‘Afīf al-dīn al-Tilimsānī’s son, chock-full of badī’, smooth and musical. I have both nearness and distance in loving you while yours is a beauty rare and wonderful You whose beauty seeks refuge in your majesty beware of the jealous eyes afflicting you If you are not my eye, then…
Anything but your beauty is forbidden to my gaze / The tale of my love for you is ancient
Another beautiful pair of Arabic poems; the first by the Yemeni Sufi poet ‘abd al-Hādī al-Sūdī (d. 1526) has an opening similar to the two poems in the previous post (by al-Nabulusi and al-Tilimsani), and show signs of being modeled on al-Tilimsani’s; the latter poem is by al-Tilimsani’s son, al-Shābb al-Ẓarīf (“The Cool Kid”) and…
My eyes only see your beauty
This beautiful poem by the Damascene Sufi scholar ‘abd al-Ghani al-Nābulusi (d. 1143/1731), is a favorite among singers. But as he writes in his dīwān, it is based on two verses from an earlier poem, which his friends showed him and asked him to expand. These verses are found in some versions of 1001 Nights,…
Rumi: Fire rains down
Translation: If the soul of a lover spoke, fire would rain down on this world smashing this baseless world like atoms The Sky will burst, time and space torn to shreds A passion fills the world, Joy triumphs over death. The Sun falls short, as the inner light glows …
Amazing Ghazal of Rumi
Another great translation from Prof. Nicholas Boylston… Translation: At every breath the song of love Arrives to us from left and right We’re setting out to the celestial sphere Who has the guts to come with us? The celestial sphere was once our home We were the friends of angels there We go again to…
Rumi—It’s a lie!
Wonderful ghazal, wonderfully translated by Prof Nicholas Boylston: Translation: They say, “The king of love has no loyalty.” It’s a lie. They say, “The morning does not lead to eve.” It’s a lie. They say, “Why do you kill yourselves for the sake of love? After the annihilation of the body nothing remains.” It’s a…
Yunus Emre-The Watermill
Thanks to Serdar Kiliç for introducing me to this poem and translating it: Translation Why do you groan, O Watermill; For I’ve troubles, I groan I fell in love with the Lord; For It do I groan They found me on a mountain; My arms and wings they plucked Saw me fit for a watermill;…
Baba Zahin Shah Taji
I was recently introduced to this amazing 20th-century Urdu Sufi poet and scholar (he translated and Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Fuṣūṣ al-Hikam and Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya and al-Ḥallāj’s Kitāb al-Ṭawāsīn into Urdu) in these beautiful translations by Amer Latif from this article: Latif, Amer. “Ẕahīn Shāh Tājī’s (d. 1978) Signs of Beauty (Āyāt-i Jamāl).” Journal of Sufi Studies…
Sana’i and Hafez Bilingual Poems (Molamma’āt)
One of Hafez’s Molamma’āt (mixed Persian and Arabic) ghazals illustrates not only the unique transformation of Arabic prosody in Persian poetry, but also Hafez’s unique gift for copying, transforming, and improving the verses from previous ghazals (in this case a ghazal by the seminal master of the ghazal, Sanā’ī): Sana’ī Translation: Last night a…