O God, Give Me a Breast That Kindles Fire
Vahshi Bafqiوحشی بافقی
الاهی سینه ای ده آتش افروز
O God, give me a breast that kindles fire,
در آن سینه دلی وان دل همه سوز
and in that breast a heart, and that heart all burning.
هر آن دل را که سوزی نیست، دل نیست
Any heart that has no burning is no heart;
دل افسرده غیر از آب و گل نیست
a frozen heart is nothing but water and clay.
دلم پر شعله گردان، سینه پردود
Make my heart full of flame, my breast full of smoke;
زبانم کن به گفتن آتش آلود
make my tongue, in speaking, touched with fire.
کرامت کن درونی درد پرورد
Grant me an inner self that nurtures pain,
دلی در وی درون درد و برون درد
a heart within it, pain inside and pain outside.
A note for readers
The opening prayer of Farhad and Shirin, Vahshi’s romance of the stonecutter Farhad’s love for the princess Shirin, a story told before him by Nezami. Vahshi left the poem unfinished at his death, and it was completed in the nineteenth century by Vesal Shirazi. These lines on the heart that is only a heart when it burns are often quoted on their own.
More poemsشعرهای دیگر
یک عمر می‌توان سخن از زلف یار گفت
در بند آن مباش که مضمون نمانده است
One could speak for a lifetime of the beloved’s tresses;
do not fret that there are no themes left.
A Lifetime on the Beloved’s Tresses
بلبلی برگ گلی خوش رنگ در منقار داشت
و اندر آن برگ و نوا خوش ناله‌های زار داشت
A nightingale held in its beak a rose petal of lovely colour,
and with that petal and its song it made sweet, piteous laments.
A nightingale held a rose petal
ستاره ای بدرخشید و ماه مجلس شد
دل رمیده ما را رفیق و مونس شد
A star shone out and became the moon of the gathering,
became friend and companion to our startled heart.