O Turning Green Dome
Naser Khosrowناصرخسرو
ای قبه گردنده بی‌روزن خضرا
O turning green dome without a window,
با قامت فرتوتی و با قوت برنا
with the stature of an old man and the strength of a youth!
فرزند توایم ای فلک، ای مادر بدمهر
We are your children, O heaven, O unkind mother;
ای مادر ما چونکه همی کین کشی از ما؟
O mother of ours, why do you take revenge on us?
فرزند تو این تیره تن خامش خاکی است
Your child is this dark, silent body of earth,
پاکیزه خرد نیست نه این جوهر گویا
not pure reason, nor this speaking substance.
تن خانه این گوهر والای شریف است
The body is the house of this noble, lofty jewel;
تو مادر این خانه این گوهر والا
you are mother to this house, not to the lofty jewel.
چون کار خود امروز در این خانه بسازم
When I have done my work today in this house,
مفرد بروم، خانه سپارم به تو فردا
I will go on alone, and hand the house back to you tomorrow.
A note for readers
The opening of the first qasida in Naser Khosrow's Divan, addressed to the sky, the ancient 'green dome' that turns above the world. He answers his own complaint with his central teaching: the heavens are mother only to the body, while the rational soul, the 'speaking substance', belongs elsewhere and will leave the body behind. The poem goes on to counsel patience, moderation and the worth of speech.
More poemsشعرهای دیگر
مرغی دیدم نشسته بر باره طوس
در پیش نهاده کله کیکاووس
I saw a bird perched on the ramparts of Tus,
with the skull of Kay Kavus set down before it.
A Bird on the Walls of Tus
یکی قطره باران ز ابری چکید
خجل شد چو پهنای دریا بدید
A drop of rain fell from a cloud;
it was ashamed when it saw the breadth of the sea.
A Drop of Rain
ابتدای کار سیمرغ ای عجب
جلوه‌گر بگذشت بر چین نیم‌شب
The beginning of the Simorgh’s story, how wonderful:
in all his splendour he passed over China at midnight.