|
Translations
from Divan-e Shams
My desert is
without end,
My soul, my heart must
rend.
The world here
out-pictured,
In which picture I
descend?
If on the path you see a
head
Rolling itself around
the bend
Ask our secret from that
head
On its answers you can
depend.
What turned you to a
flying bird
Solomon’s confidant and
friend?
How did you turn to a
seeing eye
To the trees in our
garden attend?
How did you become the
tidal wave
And pearls and jewels to
the shores send?
Not the seven skies
below the heavens,
Our abode, even heavens
transcend
Instead of the heavens
and the world
In the pastures of
Divine Union we blend.
How can I utter a sigh,
for with each breath
More perturbed, more
agitated, my trend.
How did this ear appear
Which heard our
feathered friend
How birds of prey and
game play
And in the fresh
mountain air ascend.
The height of the
seventh sky
Saturn will gladly
defend.
What can I say, what do
I know
Limits of this story I
won’t pretend.
Let go of this story and
ask not
My broken hands, I
cannot mend
You shall be worthy of
the Divine
If this is what our
Beloved intend.
Ó Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
August 3, 1998
|
Back
Back
Brief notes on Divan-e Shams
Divan-e Shams is a masterpiece of wisdom and
eloquence. It is often said that Rumi had
attained the level of a "Perfect Master" and as
such, he often dwelled in the spiritual realms
that were rarely visited by others of this
world. He attained heights that were attained by
only a few before him or since.
In Divan-e Shams, he has used many images from
the mundane world. Images such as the wine and
the wine bearer, the pearl and the ocean, the
sun and the moon, the night and day, the
caravan, pilgrimage and many more. However, he
has always expressed spiritual wisdom of the
highest level through this imagery.
While many other
poets have a mystical vision and then try to
express it in a graspable language, Rumi has
never attempted to bring his visions to the
level of the mundane. He has always expected,
nay, demanded the reader to reach higher and
higher in his or her own spiritual
understanding, and then perhaps be able to
appreciate what Rumi was saying.
Perhaps this is why there are many layers to his
poetry… not so much because of his writing, but
because of our understanding. As we transcend in
our understanding, we grasp more and more of
what he conveyed to us.
Yet there is more. While many of the
translations of Rumi’s poetry have tried to
convey the immense wisdom contained therein,
often they overlook the musical and artistic
beauty that they contain. Particularly in
Divan-e Shams, Rumi has created such level of
beauty through the use and mastery of musical
rhythm and rhyme, that the reader not only can
appreciate its wisdom, but also reach levels of
ecstasy and mystical energy that is seldom found
in other poems or any translations of his
poetry.
The mastery of rhyme and rhythm is such that he
often creates a new vocabulary, using the same
old words, yet creating new feelings that are
associated with them. Furthermore, often he has
such mastery of play on words and puns, or at
other times he uses the same word with a
different accent or vowel twice or even thrice
in the same verse, with a different meaning each
time. One cannot help but marvel at the
linguistic mastery he displays.
In any case, the end result is the same… the
experience of artistic beauty, musical genius,
rhythm and ecstatic energy, all in conjunction
with the mental understanding of the wisdom
conveyed. This is as close as one can get to the
mystical experience itself, without actually
being there with Rumi. In other words, His
presence pervades his poetry, and one cannot
help but be touched by such powerful and loving
presence.
In translation from Farsi to English, it is
inevitable that much of the intricacies are
lost. However, the present translations have
attempted to retain some of the rhythm and rhyme
as well as the imagery and the core message of
each poem, though often in feeble ways, only to
attempt to present a glimpse of his mastery.
The translations are far from creating the
ecstasy that Rumi creates and communicates, but
it is hoped that they will point the reader in
the same direction. And perhaps by using his or
her imagination, the reader can have a glimpse
of how Rumi would provide glimpses of ecstasy
and mystical experience. And hopefully this will
pave the way for the reader to connect with
Rumi’s all and ever-pervasive presence, and with
time, be touched by that spirit.
rumi, shams, divane
shams, rumionfire, molavi, molana, divane shams,
divan e shams
ديوان شعر
شمس، مولانا، مولوي، شمس تبريزي، مولوي، مولانا،
ديوان شعر، عرفان، عرفان ايران، شعر و عرفان
|
