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,…
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…
‘Eid al-Adha
Rumi Translation: When love sacrifices me, then that day will be my ‘Eid Were it not my ‘Eid, I’d not be that real man, but a whore Original: عشق چو قربان کندم عید من آن روز بود ور نبود عید من آن مرد نیم بلک غرم al-Harraq Translation: If you appear,…
The qibla of love
Qu’ran 2:144 We have seen the turning of thy face to heaven. And now verily We shall turn you toward a qibla [direction of prayer] which is dear to thee. So turn thy face toward the Inviolable Place of Worship, and ye, wheresoever ye may be, turn your faces toward it. Lo! Those who have…
Death Poems
Mīr Dard Translation: My friends, we have seen enough of this play We are going home, you can stay Original: دوستو، دیکها تماشا یاں کا بس تُم رہو خوش ہم تو اپنے گھر چلے (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwaja_Mir_Dard) Kozan Ichikyo Translation: Empty-handed I entered this world Barefoot I leave it My coming and my going…
In Jerusalem…
Mahmoud Darwish In Jerusalem BY MAHMOUD DARWISH TRANSLATED BY FADY JOUDAH In Jerusalem, and I mean within the ancient walls, I walk from one epoch to another without a memory to guide me. The prophets over there are sharing the history of the holy … ascending to heaven and returning less discouraged and melancholy, because love and…
Between you and me…
al-Ḥallāj Translation: Is it you or me? In this there are two gods yet You forbid, You forbid affirming duality Your selfhood is in my negation eternally My all clothes the all in two respects So where is your self [hidden] from me when I see? For my self became clear where there’s no…