Masnavi · 15th century

In That Seclusion Where Being Had No Sign

Jamiجامی

در آن خلوت که هستی بی نشان بود

In that seclusion where being had no sign,

به کنج نیستی عالم نهان بود

and the world lay hidden in the corner of non-being,

وجودی بود از نقش دویی دور

there was an existence far from the trace of twoness,

ز گفت و گوی مایی و تویی دور

far from all talk of “we” and “you”.

جمال مطلق از قید مظاهر

Absolute beauty, free of the bonds of appearances,

به نور خویش هم بر خویش ظاهر

was shown by its own light to itself alone:

دلارا شاهدی در حجله غیب

a heart-delighting beauty in the bridal chamber of the unseen,

مبرا دامنش از تهمت عیب

its skirt clear of any charge of fault.

نه با آیینه رویش در میانه

No mirror had yet come between it and its face,

نه زلفش را کشیده دست شانه

no comb’s hand had yet been drawn through its tresses;

صبا از طره اش نگسسته تاری

the morning breeze had not loosened one strand of its locks,

ندیده چشمش از سرمه غباری

its eye had not seen a speck of kohl;

نگشته با گلش همسایه سنبل

no hyacinth curl had come to neighbour its rose,

نبسته سبزه ای پیرایه بر گل

no green down had yet adorned that rose;

رخش ساده ز هر خطی و خالی

its face was bare of every line and mole,

ندیده هیچ چشمی زو خیالی

and no eye had seen even an image of it.

From: Yusuf and Zulaykha
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

The opening of the section of Yusuf and Zulaykha that explains where beauty and love come from. Before creation, Jami says, absolute beauty existed alone and unseen, like a beloved no one had yet looked at, untouched by mirror, comb or kohl. The lines that follow tell how beauty, which cannot bear to stay hidden, showed itself in the world, so that every earthly beauty and every love reflects it: a classic statement of this Sufi idea.