Ghazal · 17th century

No One Untied a Knot

Saeb Tabriziصائب تبریزی

پند ناصح به جنون من افگار افزود

The adviser’s counsel only added to the madness of my wounded self;

شربت تلخ به بدخویی بیمار افزود

bitter medicine only added to the sick man’s ill temper.

هیچ کس عقده ای از کار جهان باز نکرد

No one has untied a single knot in the affairs of the world;

هرکه آمد گرهی چند بر این کار افزود

everyone who came added a few more knots to the tangle.

زهد را پیشه گرفتم که ز غفلت برهم

I took up piety to free myself from heedlessness;

پرده غفلتم از جبه و دستار افزود

the robe and turban only added to the veil of my heedlessness.

باعث کلفت من جوش هواداران شد

The throng of admirers became the cause of my gloom:

عکس طوطی به دل آینه زنگار افزود

the parrot’s reflection added rust to the mirror’s heart.

هرکه آمد غمی از روی دلم بردارد

Whoever came to lift some grief from my heart

رخنه ای چند بر این سینه افگار افزود

added a few more breaches to this wounded breast.

شعله عشق ز تقلید بلندی گیرد

The flame of love rises higher by imitation;

شور بلبل ز تماشایی گلزار افزود

the nightingale’s passion grew with those who came to gaze at the garden.

عشق از روز ازل اینهمه دشوار نبود

Love was not so hard from the first day of creation;

هرکه در دل گرهی داشت بر این کار افزود

everyone who had a knot in his heart added it to this affair.

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

A note for readers

The first seven couplets of a ghazal on the refrain ‘added’ (afzud). Its second couplet, that no one has ever untied a knot in the world’s affairs but only added more, is one of Saeb’s best-known lines. Parrots were taught to talk in front of a mirror; in the fourth couplet the parrot’s green reflection looks like the verdigris that clouds a metal mirror, as the poet’s admirers only cloud his heart.