Ghazal · 12th–13th century

At Dawn Our Old Master Woke

Attarعطار

پیر ما وقت سحر بیدار شد

At dawn our old master woke

از در مسجد بر خمار شد

and went from the mosque door to the wine-seller’s.

از میان حلقه مردان دین

From the circle of the men of religion

در میان حلقه زنار شد

he went into the circle of the unbeliever’s belt.

کوزه دردی به یک دم درکشید

He drained a jug of dregs in one breath,

نعره‌ای دربست و دردی‌خوار شد

gave a shout, and became a drinker of dregs.

چون شراب عشق در وی کار کرد

When the wine of love had done its work in him,

از بد و نیک جهان بیزار شد

he was done with the good and the bad of the world.

اوفتان خیزان چو مستان صبوح

Stumbling and rising like those drunk on morning wine,

جام می بر کف سوی بازار شد

cup in hand, he went to the market.

غلغلی در اهل اسلام اوفتاد

An uproar broke out among the people of Islam:

کای عجب این پیر از کفار شد

‘How strange! This old man has gone over to the unbelievers.’

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

A note for readers

The opening of a long qalandari ghazal, in which a revered old master leaves the mosque for the wine-house and the townspeople cry scandal. The closing couplets reveal that this is the story of Hallaj, the Sufi executed in Baghdad, who goes to the gallows in the poem as to his ascension. The wine, the dregs and the unbeliever’s belt (zunnar) are the stock images of this kind of poem for a break with outward piety. The excerpt gives six of twenty-two couplets.