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It Was Night But Only To Strangers

Ghazal 1051¹

11095 It was night, but (only) for strangers. My night is (kept like)
day because of the face of the beloved.

Even if the world is completely taken over by thorns, we are (kept)
drowned in roses from the beloved.

Even if the world becomes ruined and (then) built up, my heart is
(kept) "drunk and ruined"² by the beloved.

Since the news is all sadness and weariness, the absence of news
(is) the source of (real) news!

--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), 11/9/98 (revised
98/01)

Notes on the text, with line number:

1. Ghazal 1051: Compare to: the version by Coleman Barks (based
on a translation from Persian by John Moyne), "Open Secret,"
1984, p. 34, re-printed in "The Essential Rumi, 1995, pp. 98-99
(entitled, by Barks, "The Tent")

2. (11097) drunk and ruined: means ecstatic and "destroyed" by the
"wine" of Love.

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11095 shab gasht walêk pêsh-é aghyâr
rôz-ast shab-é man az rokh-é yâr

gar `âlam-é jumla khâr gîr-ad
mây-ém ze-dôst gharq-é gol-zâr

gar gasht jahân kharâb-o ma`mûr
mast-ast del-o kharâb-é del-dâr

zî-râ ke khabar hama malûlî-st
în bê-khabarî-st aSl-é akhbâr

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Meter: XXo oXoX oXX

(Hazaj akrab maqbûz mahzûf)