Sufi Lyric Poetry

February 17, Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College

Baz Amadam (Mowlana Jalauddin Rumi, 13^th Century)

I have returned, I have returned, returned from that beloved
----- Look at me, look at me, I have returned in compassion for you

I have returned, joyous and free of all words
----- H ow many thousands of years was it until I came to speech

[There I have gone, there I've gone. High I was, soaring high.
----- I come again, I come again, as refuge I have come]

[A bird of Lahut I was, now see I've become Nasut
----- his net I did not see, unaware (fatal), into him fallen I have come]

Do not see us with the eyes in your head, see us with the yes of mystery
----- Come here and look at us, for we have come seeking refuge

Shams of Tabriz, when will you cast a healing glance upon this world
----- For in the wilderness of extinction, the heart and soul have been wounded

*****************************************************************

 Be Harim-e Khawat-e Khud Shavi (Hatefe Estafane, 18^th Century)

You, in the sanctuary of self retreat
----- What would happen if you secretly called to me
Come and sit beside me
----- And let me sit beside you

If I am old and weakening
----- Don't refuse me the door to your sanctuary (alt. shrine)
For, your one, it is in sorrow for you
----- That I lost all the days of my youth

*****************************************************************

Be Shabe-Vaslat (Malik al Shu`ara Bahar, 20^th Century

On the night of our union, my love
----- my soul, I have become mad
For the flame of your visage, my love
----- my soul, I have become a moth

*****************************************************************

Ze Dast-e Mahbub (Traditonal)

At the beloved's hand--
----- I know not what to do
In exile from her face
----- My eyes have wept the river Oxus

I went to that moon countenance
----- and we sat face to face, spoke whisper to whisper
My intimate, who grasps my heart, be less oppressive
----- In the end remember me, just remember me.

****************************************************************

Saqi Nameh (Raziuddin Artemani, 17th Century)

Arise O heart and enter the tavern
----- Call out invitation to the drunken the mad
Come, wine-bearer, pass around the wine
----- For a heart seized with sorrow at how things have turned

If you taste of this draught you will say where where
----- If you become drunk with it you will say he he
Come offer up our heads to the vat eof wine
----- Me and you, you and me, and everything lost

********************************************************

Biya Ta Gol Bar Afshanim (Hafez Shirazi 14th Century)

Come, let us scatter roses and pour wine into the goblet
----- Let us rend the roof of heaven
----- ----- and create a new design

Should anguish prepare an army to make the blood of lovers flow
----- The winebearer and I, playing together,
----- ----- will upturn his foundation

If you desire the garden of Eden, accompany us to the tavern!
----- We'll plunge you from the side of the vat
----- ----- into the wellspring of the water of life.