Hafez’s tomb was first constructed in 1452, around sixty years after his death by the Timurid governor of Shiraz, and has been renovated and expanded many times since, often in response to divination performed with his Divan. The tomb is adorned with calligraphic renditions of these ghazals of his, which happen to be among my…
She walks in beauty like the night…
One of my favorite English poems of all time is reminiscent of Sufi poetry about Layla, whose name means “night,” and who symbolizes the beloved Divine Essence/Essence of the Self. Lord Byron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_zCOJOgd4U She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet…
This Love is not a River…
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…
Hafez—If you pass by my grave…
Two of my favorite poems of Hafez; legend is that scholars decided to settle a debate over whether or not Hafez should receive a proper Muslim burial by performing divination with his poetry, the last couplet of the second poem emerged and Hafez was given a proper burial and his shrine has remained a site…
You are Light
One of my favorite poems in praise of the Prophetic Light: Translation: Prayers of God upon You, Light Light of all the dwelling places O you, best of all in spaces Messenger of God, You are You are light in form and shape As “light upon light” you came The Qur’an…
Khaqani on Love
Khaqani Translation: The bird that sings the song of pain is love The courier who knows the tongue of the Unseen is love The existence that calls you to nonexistence is love And that which redeems you from you is love Original: مرغی که نوای درد راند عشق است پيکی که زبان غيب داند…
Wherever you put your foot, we are the ground
Rumi: Translation: Oh beloved we only see you through your love Wherever you put your foot we are the ground for you So how can it be that in this way of love We see the world through you and yet we don’t see you? Original: ای دوست به دوستی قرینیم ترا هرجا که…
Near and Far, Fanā’ and Baqā’
A collection of verses from West African poets on the theme… The first is said to have been improvised extemporaneously by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Ya’qūb al-Kānemī (from Kanem in contemporary Northeastern Nigeria) upon his visit to the Almohad Sultan Abū Yūsuf Ya’qūb al-Manṣūr (d. 1199) in Marrakech. The Nigerian poet composed and recited these…
Ibn al-Fāriḍ—My heart told me
Translation: 1) My heart told me that you are my destroyer my soul is your hostage/ransom whether you know it or not 2) I have not honored the right of your love if I do not die in it out of sorrow, and someone like me is one who honors (his promises) 3) What do…
Majnun (Niẓāmī) and John Donne
Niẓami Translation: And who am I — so far from you, yet near? A singing beggar! Layla, do you hear? Freed from life’s drudgery, my loneliness , Sorrow and grief for me spell happiness. And thirsty in the painstream of delight, I drown. Child of the sun, I starve at night. Though parted our two…