Shushtari I drink wine from the cup and from myself I approach myself In myself it is myself I love For it is my spirit, my reality the fine wine that fills me and quenches my thirst I care not what others may say I seek in myself what I already have Drink up in…
Shustari-If Loving You Is Wrong…
Shushtari My neglect of you is reprehensible, while your love is a duty my longing is everlasting, while union is elusive On the tablet of my heart, your love has been marked my tears are the ink, and beauty is the writer The reader of my thoughts constantly recites lessons on the signs of the…
Natural Mystic
Shushtari Natural, Natural, ay, by God, Natural Natural, Natural, ay By God, Natural A poor man like me, with a begging bag around my neck My heart is free of any care And I like people who are light-hearted Such is the natural, he is liked by every natural Natural, Natural, ay, by God, Natural…
One Love
Ibn al-Fāriḍ Translation: As for my way in love, I have no way If I neglect my love for a day, then I have left my sect And if the thought of other than you occurs to me Inadvertantly, I would consider it as my apostasy You govern my life as you will, so…
I looked and all I saw was you…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ZMU1dZpIY Translation: If the meaning of your speech is not for me, then I don’t know For my heart will not be cured and my liver’s fire will not be quenched I looked and I didn’t see any one but you whom I love If not for you, love would not be sweet for those who…
Ibn ‘Arabi-My Beloved
Although not a poem in Arabic, this moving account of Divine “pillow talk” or munājāt (intimate discourses) by Ibn ‘Arabi was beautifully translated by Henri Corbin in poetic form (and modified by me to better correspond to the Arabic). Translation: Listen, O dearly beloved! I am the sought essence in the cosmos I am the centre…
The Music of Hafez
These are two of the most musical ghazals of the most musical of Persian poets, Hafez. The beauty of their melodies and rhythms are only surpassed by the sublimity of their meanings: Translation: Without the beloved’s beauty, the soul has no interest in the world He who doesn’t have that, in truth has no…
‘Iraqi and Shushtari—The Wealth of Poverty
‘Iraqi Translation: I have seen that the lane of piety stretches out, far, far into the distance; My dearest friends, can you not show me then the way of the madman? Bring me a glass of Magian wine that I may drink deep for I have given up all thought of ascetic piety; or…
Shabistari on the pure drink
Qur’an 76:21 Translation: Upon them are robes of green silk and embroidery, and they are adorned with bracelets of silver, and their Lord pours for them them a pure wine. Original: عَالِيَهُمْ ثِيَابُ سُندُسٍ خُضْرٌ وَإِسْتَبْرَقٌ وَحُلُّوا أَسَاوِرَ مِن فِضَّةٍ وَسَقَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ شَرَابًا طَهُورًا Shabistari: Translation: Consider the meaning of “their Lord gives them…
O you present in my heart…
Translation: O you present in my heart, thinking of you makes me sweet If no one ever visits my eye, then my heart will take its place for me I am not gone, but my body is vanishing from wasting away So no blamer found me, and no chaperone/rival saw me Had the era known about me, people would…