Ghazal · 17th–18th century

We, the Dust, and Nothing

Bidel Dehlaviبیدل دهلوی

ماییم و خاک و وعده‌گه انتظار و هیچ

Here we are, and the dust, and the meeting place of waiting, and nothing,

تا فرصتی نمانده شود آشکار و هیچ

until, with no time left, it shows itself, and nothing.

خمیازه ساغریم در این انجمن چو صبح

In this gathering we are a yawning cup, like the dawn;

عمری‌ست می‌کشیم وبال خمار و هیچ

for a lifetime we have borne the curse of the hangover, and nothing.

آیینه‌دار فرصت نظاره‌ای که نیست

We hold the mirror to a chance of seeing that does not exist;

بوده‌ست‌ چون ‌شرر به ‌عدم‌ یک دچار و هیچ

like a spark, there was one meeting with non-being, and nothing.

عالم تأملی‌ست ز رمز دهان یار

The world is one long pondering of the riddle of the beloved’s mouth:

پنهان و گفتگوی عدم آشکار و هیچ

hidden, while the talk of non-being is plain, and nothing.

هنگامه نشاط مکرر که دیده است

Who has ever seen the feast of joy come twice?

بلبل تو ناله‌ کن به امید بهار و هیچ

Nightingale, lament in hope of spring, and nothing.

دیگر صدای تیشه فرهاد برنخاست

The sound of Farhad’s axe has never risen again:

این‌کوهسار داشت همان یک شرار و هیچ

this mountain had that one spark, and nothing.

ای صفر اعتبار خیال جهان پوچ

O zero, in the reckoning of this hollow world’s imaginings,

شرمی ز خودشماری چندین هزار و هیچ

have some shame at counting yourself so many thousands, and nothing.

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

A note for readers

The first seven couplets of a ghazal on the refrain ‘and nothing’ (o hich). The images all point to the emptiness of existence: the dawn as a yawning cup, the beloved’s mouth, so small in Persian poetry that it is ‘nothing’, Farhad’s axe striking a single spark from the mountain, and the zero that makes a number into thousands while being nothing itself. Several lines are very compressed, and the readings given here are one choice among others.