Masnavi · 16th century

If You Sat in Majnun’s Eyes

Vahshi Bafqiوحشی بافقی

به مجنون گفت روزی عیب‌جویی

One day a fault-finder said to Majnun,

که پیدا کن به از لیلی نکویی

“Find yourself a beauty better than Layli,

که لیلی گرچه در چشم تو حوریست

for though Layli is a houri in your eyes,

به هر جزوی ز حسن او قصوریست

every part of her beauty falls short.”

ز حرف عیب‌جو مجنون برآشفت

Majnun was stirred by the fault-finder’s words,

در آن آشفتگی خندان شد و گفت

and in that turmoil he laughed and said,

اگر در دیده مجنون نشینی

“If you were to sit in Majnun’s eyes,

به غیر از خوبی لیلی نبینی

you would see nothing but Layli’s beauty.

تو کی دانی که لیلی چون نکویی است

How could you know what Layli’s beauty is,

کزو چشمت همین بر زلف و رویی است

when all your eye takes from her is a face and some hair?

تو قد بینی و مجنون جلوه ناز

You see a figure, and Majnun her graceful bearing;

تو چشم و او نگاه ناوک‌انداز

you see an eye, and he the glance that shoots its arrow;

تو مو بینی و مجنون پیچش مو

you see hair, and Majnun the curl of the hair;

تو ابرو، او اشارت‌های ابرو

you an eyebrow, and he what the eyebrow signals.

دل مجنون ز شکرخنده خونست

Majnun’s heart bleeds from her sugared smile,

تو لب می‌بینی و دندان که چونست

while you see lips, and teeth, and how they are shaped.”

From: Farhad and Shirin
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

The first eight couplets of a story from the prologue of Farhad and Shirin, before the tale begins. Majnun answers a critic of Layli that a lover’s eye sees not features but the life in them; the story then opens into a longer discourse on what love asks of the lover. Saadi tells a similar story in the Golestan, where Majnun says that Layli must be seen through Majnun’s eyes.