Ghazal · 13th century

Let Me Pass Before Your Face

Saadiسعدی

بگذار تا مقابل روی تو بگذریم

Let me pass in front of your face

دزدیده در شمایل خوب تو بنگریم

and steal a look at your lovely form.

شوق است در جدایی و جور است در نظر

In parting there is longing, and in looking there is cruelty;

هم جور به که طاقت شوقت نیاوریم

cruelty is better, for we cannot bear the longing for you.

روی ار به روی ما نکنی، حکم از آن توست

If you will not turn your face to ours, that is yours to decide;

بازآ که روی در قدمانت بگستریم

come back, so that we may spread our faces beneath your feet.

ما را سری‌ست با تو که گر خلق روزگار

We are so set on you that, if all the people of the world

دشمن شوند و سر برود هم بر آن سریم

turned enemy and our heads were lost, we would still be set on you.

گفتی: «ز خاک بیشترند اهل عشق من»

You said, ‘Those who love me outnumber the dust’:

از خاک بیشتر نه، که از خاک کمتریم

not more than the dust; we are less than dust.

ما با توایم و با تو نه‌ایم، اینت بلعجب

We are with you and not with you, what a wonder:

در حلقه‌ایم با تو و چون حلقه بر دریم

we are in the circle with you, and like the door ring, outside the door.

نه بوی مهر می‌شنویم از تو ای عجب

Strange: we catch no scent of love from you,

نه روی آن که مهر دگر کس بپروریم

and still we cannot bring ourselves to love another.

از دشمنان برند شکایت به دوستان

People take complaints of their enemies to their friends;

چون دوست دشمن است شکایت کجا بریم؟

when the friend is the enemy, where can we take our complaint?

From: The Ghazals (Kolliyat)
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

A ghazal of devotion to a beloved who will not return it, full of wordplay: in the sixth couplet, halqa is both the circle of companions and the ring that hangs on a door as a knocker. The eighth couplet, on the friend who has become the enemy, is one of Saadi’s most quoted lines. The excerpt gives the first eight of its ten couplets.