The Palace of Mada’en
Khaqaniخاقانی
هان ای دل عبرت بین از دیده نظر کن هان
Take heed, O heart that learns from warnings, look with your eyes, take heed:
ایوان مدائن را آیینهٔ عبرت دان
know the palace of Mada’en for a mirror of warning.
یک ره ز ره دجله منزل به مدائن کن
Once, by way of the Tigris, make your halt at Mada’en,
وز دیده دوم دجله بر خاک مدائن ران
and from your eyes let a second Tigris run on Mada’en’s earth.
خود دجله چنان گرید صد دجلهٔ خون گویی
The Tigris itself weeps so that you would say it is a hundred Tigrises of blood,
کز گرمی خونابش آتش چکد از مژگان
and from the heat of its bloody tears fire drips from its lashes.
بینی که لب دجله کف چون به دهان آرد
You see how, when the Tigris brings foam to its mouth,
گوئی ز تف آهش لب آبله زد چندان
you would say its lips have blistered from the heat of its sighs.
A note for readers
The opening of Khaqani’s qasida on the ruins of the Sasanian palace at Ctesiphon, called Mada’en in Persian, which he is said to have seen on his journey to Mecca. The great ruined arch prompts a meditation on the passing of empires. It is one of the best-known qasidas in Persian; the excerpt gives the first four couplets.
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.