If Wheat Comes Up From My Grave
Ghazal 6831
7102 If wheat comes up from my grave (and) you bake bread from
it, drunkenness will increase.
The dough and the baker will become crazy (and) his oven will
sing verses like a drunkard.
If you come to visit my tomb, its shape2 will appear (to you as)
dancing.
7105 (O) brother, don't come without a tambourine to my tomb,
since (being) full of sorrow is not suitable at the banquet of God.
The chattering chin is bound up and sleeping at the tomb, (and) the
mouth (of the spirit) is chewing the opium and sweet deserts of the
Beloved.
Tear (something) from the shroud (and) tie it to (your) chest; (then)
from (within) your soul, open the door of a (wine) tavern.3
From every direction (is) the sound of the quarreling and the harp
of the drunkards. Inevitably, from every activity, (more) activity is
born.
God has created me from the wine of Love; even if death grinds
me (down to nothing), I am that very same Love.
7110 I am drunkenness, and my origin (is) the wine of Love. Tell
(me), what comes from wine except love?
My spirit won't stand waiting for a moment: it will fly to the tower
of the spirit of Shams-i Tabrîz.4
--From The Dîwân-é Kabîr (also known as "Kulliyat-é Shams" and
"Dîwân-é Shams-é Tabrîz") of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard
© Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration)
First published on "Sunlight" (yahoogroups.com), 10/10/98;
revised 11/00 and re-published on "Sunlight," 12/12/00)
Notes on the text, with line number:
1. Ghazal 683: No prior English translation known.
2. (7104) its shape: literally, "my donkey's back." An idiom meaning,
"my tomb's shape."
3. (7106) a (wine) tavern: since alcoholic beverages are strictly
forbidden in Islam, wine is a metaphor in Persian sufi poetry. The
wine tavern is the sufi gathering place, the drunkards are the
dervishes, the wine-server is often the sufi master, the wine is the
(God-given) spiritual grace of the master, and drunkenness is
spiritual ecstasy-- a foretaste of the "pure wine" of Paradise
(Qur'an 76:21; 83:25), itself a symbol of Heavenly bliss.
4. (7111) Shams-i Tabriz: literally, "Shamsu 'd-Deen-é Tabreez," The
"Sun of the Faith" of Tabriz (a city now located Iran).
This poem was inscribed upon the sarcophagus of Mawlana
Jalaluddin Rumi, and later on was placed on his fathers grave a
few feet away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ze-khâk-é man agar gandom bar ây-ad
az-ân gar nân paz-î mastî fezây-ad
khamîr-o nân-bâ dêwâna gard-ad
tanûr-ash bayt mast-âna serây-ad
agar bar gûr-é man ây-î ziyârat
to-râ khar-poshta-am raqSân nomây-ad
7105 ma-y-â bê-daf ba-gûr-é man, barâdar!
ke dar bazm-é khodâ gham-gîn na-shây-ad
zanokh bar basta-wo dar gûr khofta
dahân afyûn-o nuql-é yâr khây-ad
be-darr-î z-ân kafan bar sîna band-î
kharâbâtê ze-jân-at dar-goshây-ad
ze-har sô bâng-é jang-o chang-é mast-ân
ze-har kârê ba-lâ-bud kâr zây-ad
ma-râ Haq az may-é `ishq âfrîd-ast
ham-ân `ishq-am agar marg-am be-sây-ad
7110 man-am mastî-wo aSl-é man may-é `ishq
be-gô, az may ba-joz mastî che ây-ad
ba-burj-é rûH-é shamsu 'd-dîn-é tabrîz
be-par-ad rûH-é man yak-dam na-pây-ad
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meter: oXXX oXXX oXX
(Hazaj mahzûf)
