Ghazal · 16th century

A Heart Warmed by Love

Vahshi Bafqiوحشی بافقی

دلی کز عشق گردد گرم، افسردن نمی‌داند

A heart once warmed by love does not know how to grow cold;

چراغی را که این آتش بود مردن نمی‌داند

a lamp that holds this fire does not know how to die.

دلی دارم که هر چندش بیازاری نیازارد

I have a heart that, however much you hurt it, takes no offence;

نه دل سنگست پنداری که آزردن نمی‌داند

no heart, you would think, but a stone that does not know how to be hurt.

خسک در زیر پا دارد مقیم کوی مشتاقی

The one who lives in the street of longing has thorns under his feet;

عجب نبود که پای صبر افشردن نمی‌داند

no wonder he does not know how to stand firm in patience.

عنان کمتر کش اینجا چون رسی کز ما وفاکیشان

Draw rein less sharply when you come this way, for none of us, the faithful,

کسی دست تظلم بر عنان بردن نمی‌داند

knows how to lay a hand of complaint upon your rein.

میی در کاسه دارم مایه سد گونه بد مستی

I have wine in my cup that brings a hundred kinds of drunken brawling;

هنوز او مستی خون جگر خوردن نمی‌داند

yet she does not know the drunkenness of drinking the heart’s blood.

بخند ای گل، کز آب چشم وحشی پرورش داری

Laugh, O rose, for you are nourished by the water of Vahshi’s eyes,

که هر گل کو به بار آورد پژمردن نمی‌داند

and any rose that water brings to bloom does not know how to wither.

From: The Divan of Vahshi
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

A complete ghazal on the steadfast lover, built on the refrain ‘does not know how to’ (nemi-danad). The heart warmed by love does not know how to grow cold, and the rose watered by the poet’s tears does not know how to wither. To seize a rider’s rein was the gesture of a petitioner crying for justice; the faithful lovers, Vahshi says, will never do it.