Ghazal · 12th century

No Scent of Loyalty Is Left

Khaqaniخاقانی

در این عهد از وفا بوئی نمانده است

In this age not a scent of loyalty is left;

به عالم آشنارویی نمانده است

in all the world not one friendly face is left.

جهان دست جفا بگشاد آوخ

The world has loosed the hand of cruelty, alas;

وفا را زور بازویی نمانده است

loyalty has no strength left in its arm.

چه آتش سوخت بستان وفا را

What fire has burned the garden of loyalty

که از خشک و ترش بویی نمانده است

that of its dry and green not a scent is left?

فلک جائی به موی آویخت جانم

The sky has hung my life by a hair in a place

کز آنجا تا اجل مویی نمانده است

where not a hair’s breadth is left between me and death.

به که نالم که اندر نسل آدم

To whom shall I cry? Among the children of Adam

بدیدم آدمی‌خویی نمانده است

I have seen that no human kindness is left.

نظر بردار خاقانی ز دونان

Khaqani, take your eyes off the base;

جگر می‌خور که دلجویی نمانده است

eat your heart out, for no one is left to comfort you.

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

A note for readers

A complete ghazal lamenting that loyalty has vanished from the world, ending, as ghazals do, with the poet addressing himself by name. ‘Eating one’s liver’, the Persian idiom in the last line, means bearing grief in silence, much like the English ‘eating one’s heart out’.