Ghazal · 14th century

Ask the Moth About the Candle

Khwaju Kermaniخواجوی کرمانی

حدیث شمع از پروانه پرسید

Ask the moth for the story of the candle;

نشان گنج از ویرانه پرسید

ask the ruin where the treasure lies.

فروغ طلعت از آئینه جوئید

Look for a face’s radiance in the mirror;

پریشانی زلف از شانه پرسید

ask the comb about the tangles of the hair.

اگر آگه نئید از صورت خویش

If you know nothing of your own appearance,

برون آئید و از بیگانه پرسید

step outside and ask a stranger.

مپرسید از لگن سوز دل شمع

Do not ask the candle tray about the candle’s burning heart;

وگر پرسید از پروانه پرسید

if you ask, ask the moth.

محبت دام و محبوبست دانه

Love is the snare and the beloved is the grain:

بدام آئید و حال دانه پرسید

come into the snare, and ask about the grain.

چو از جانانه جانم دردمندست

Since my soul is sick because of the beloved,

دوای جانم از جانانه پرسید

ask the beloved for my soul’s cure.

منم دیوانه و او سرو قامت

I am the madman, and he is tall as a cypress:

حدیث راست از دیوانه پرسید

ask the madman for the straight story.

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

A note for readers

A ghazal from Badaye’ al-Jamal built on a single refrain, porsid, ‘ask’: each couplet sends the reader to the one who truly knows, as the moth, not the candle tray, knows the candle’s fire. In the seventh couplet ‘straight’ means both ‘true’ and ‘upright’, like the cypress. The excerpt gives the first seven of its ten couplets.