Ghazal · 14th century

We Are a Band of Qalandars

Obeyd Zakaniعبید زاکانی

جوق قلندرانیم در ما ریا نباشد

We are a band of qalandars; there is no hypocrisy in us;

تزویر و زرق و سالوس آیین ما نباشد

fraud and pretence and sanctimony are not our way.

در هیچ ملک با ما کس دوستی نورزد

In no country does anyone make friends with us;

در هیچ شهر ما را کس آشنا نباشد

in no town is there anyone who knows us.

گر نام ما ندانند بگذار تا ندانند

If they do not know our name, let them not know it;

ور هیچمان نباشد بگذار تا نباشد

and if we have nothing, let us have nothing.

شوریدگان ما را در بند زر نبینی

You will not find our wild ones bound to gold;

دیوانگان ما را باغ و سرا نباشد

our madmen have no garden and no house.

در لنگری که مائیم اندوه کس نبیند

In the lodge where we are, no one meets with sorrow;

در تکیه‌ای که مائیم غیر از صفا نباشد

in the hospice where we are, there is nothing but purity.

از محتسب نترسیم وز شحنه غم نداریم

We do not fear the morals officer, nor worry over the police chief;

تسلیم گشتگان را بیم از بلا نباشد

those who have surrendered have no fear of misfortune.

با خار خوش برآئیم گر گل به دست ناید

We get along with thorns, if the rose is out of reach;

بر خاک ره نشینیم گر بوریا نباشد

we sit on the dust of the road, if there is no reed mat.

هرکس به هر گروهی دارد امید چیزی

Everyone hopes for something from some group or other;

ما را امیدگاهی، غیر از خدا نباشد

we have no hope in anyone but God.

همچون عبید ما را دریوزه عار ناید

Like Obeyd, we are not ashamed to beg;

در مذهب قلندر عارف گدا نباشد

in the qalandar’s creed, the knower of God is no beggar.

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

A note for readers

A ghazal in the voice of the qalandars, wandering dervishes who scorned convention and respectability. Against the ‘fraud and pretence and sanctimony’ of the outwardly pious, Obeyd sets their poverty, their freedom from the morals officer and the police chief, and their trust in God alone. Ganjoor has a companion ghazal in the same metre, number 50, which begins in almost the same words.