Ghazal 1371

[iljas]

Salaam Ibrahim et al,

I am looking for a full English translation of ghazal 1371. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be on this website and it is not in the two volumes "Mystical Poems of Rumi" by Arberry . I have Thackston's translation of part of the ghazal which he references as Divan, III, page 166, ghazal 1371, line 14, 477:

"O king of the truthful,

have you ever seen a worse hypocrite than me?

With those alive to you I am alive;

with those dead to you I am dead."

I need the whole ghazal to see if I am interpreting these lines correctly. I would be most grateful for any help.

Iljas

[Safa Kamdideh]

Salam,

This is my own translation of this poem, hope it would help.

O Lovers, O Lovers, I have lost the cup
I have drunk from that wine, not containable within cups

I am drunk on the wine of "Men Ladon" (from He who is)*
go notify the Muḥtasib (enforcer of divine law)
for Muḥtasib and you, a sample I have brought

O emperor of the truthful
have you seen a hypocrite such as I
with those alive from you, I am alive
with those dead from you, I am dead

With heart-ravishers and the charming
like nosegays, I am blooming
with winter-like disbelievers
like autumn I am barren

O bread-beggar, behold me, by God I am drunk, clueless
a chalice I have circled around, a tincture I have juiced

I am drunk, but on Her** face
I am drowned, but in Her stream 
from Her garden and Her sugar, like a nectar I am bred 

The day Her face is reflected on my yellow-pale face
I will be a moon, as white faced as a Roman
[even] if I am as black faced as a newly enslaved Negroid

To the cup of wine, I clasped
the intellect, I bled (cried) out
with my Beloved I merged, for inside the veil I am

I hung the intellect, for the intellect sobers up
the intellect I despise, weary of (due to) thoughts I am

The aeon now is my aeon, of me now the firmament is awe-struck
during my cruise in the realm of beyond, I have brought orders from the Khagan***

In my body, there is another soul
in my soul, there is another Khagan
with what is mine, there's another
for I have perceived that [other]

If She were to say "time's up, run run, for 'tis the hour to go"
"Say it to the alive" I'd say "I have bequeathed my life to the Truth (God)"

Hush, for [when] the nightingale asked the falcon, "What is the silence for?"
"see not the silence" answered [the falcon] "in the Shah's hunt, I be a hundred men"

* "Men Ladon" is from Quran 11:1 which reads "This is a Book, whose signs have been made definitive and then elaborated, from He who is all-wise, all-aware" and it is used as a figure of speech (مجاز) referring to 'that which is bestowed upon us by God.'

** since Persian doesn't have gendered pronouns, for او we can use she/he/they/it; so in my translations I chose she/her because the one I love most is a she. you can read them as any other pronoun you'd like.

*** Khagan is the emperor of the Turks, as is Shah the emperor of the Persians

Hope this was helpful to you,

Safa

[Ibrahim Gamard]

Salām, Iljas,

Attached is a scan of Jeffrey Osborne’s translation of Rumi’s ghazal no. 1371. He (an American who lives in Copenhagen) has well-translated Rumi''s entire Dīvān from Persian in twenty paperback volumes.

Here is the original text for Persian readers; https://ganjoor.net/moulavi/shams/ghazalsh/sh1371/

His translation of this verse --and the one following it is:

"O truthful king, have you ever seen a hypocrite like me? I am alive with those who are alive; I am dead with the dead.

With the beloved and the rosy-cheeked ones, I open up like a flower With the frigid deniers, I am as melancholy as autumn."

I would translate more literally:

 "O king of the truthful ones, have you (ever) seen a hypocrite like me? With your living ones [zindegān-at], I'm alive. (But) with your deceased ones [mordegān-at], I'm dead. 

 With the beloveds and rose-cheeked ones, I'm burst (open) like the rosebushes. (But) with the winter-like deniers, I'm withered like autumn."

(Osbornne's trans. looks a bi rushed (it's one of over three thousand ghazals that he translated).

Ibrahim

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[Iljas Baker]

Dear Ibrahim and Safa thank you very much for your responses, both are helpful.

Iljas

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dar-al-masnavi/CAG4B2S_baM57-0E6WTt5SquzPrj_RExodEU9h0FDDbfE%2BmW%3DmQ%40mail.gmail.com.