"If I ever get to see you"

Táhirih Qurrat ul-`Ayn (طاهره قرة العین) is one of the most famous poets of early modern Iran. A practitioner of the Bahá'í faith, she was criticized and persecuted on accounts of her bravery and audacity, and was eventually secretly executed. Celebrated as a martyr for the Bábí movement and for women's rights, she is remembered to this day for her actions and for her poetry. One of her most famous poems, گر به تو افتدم نظر, sometimes referred to as "Chehreh beh Chehreh" in English transliteration, has been set to music and sung by a number of great musicians, including the incomparable Shajarian.

Here is a pre-revolution recording of Shajarian with Mohammad-Reza Lotfi performing the song at the Hafeziyeh, at the Jashn-e Honar-e Shiraz.









A slightly different version of the poem is recited and set to music here in this video by the US-based tar and setar player Sahba Motallebi. The video contains a loose translation of the poem.





The text of the poem as recited by Sahba Motallebi follows. I've tried to translate it on my own too. My sincere apologies for this horribly unreadable, terribly unpoetical, atrociously pretentious attempt at rendering a truly beautiful, even spiritually uplifting, work of art.

گر به تو افتدم نظر چهره به چهره رو به رو

شرح دهم غم تو را نکته به نکته مو به مو

از پی ديدن رخت همچو صبا فتاده ام

خانه به خانه در به در کوچه به کوچه کو به کو

مي رود از فراق تو خون دل از دو ديده ام

دجله به دجله يم به يم چشمه به چشمه جو به جو

دور دهان تنگ تو عارض عنبرين خطت

غنچه به غنچه گل به گل لاله به لاله بو به بو

ابرو و چشم و خال تو صيد نموده مرغ دل

طبع به طبع دل به دل مهر به مهر و خو به خو

مهر ترا دل حزين بافته بر قماش جان

رشته به رشته نخ به نخ تار به تار پو به پو

در دل خويش طاهره گشت و نديد جز ترا

صفحه به صفحه لا به لا پرده به پرده تو به تو

If I ever get to see you,
face to face 
cheek to cheek

I'd pour out my heartbreak to you—
point by point 
line by line.

I've followed you like the morning breeze,
house by house door by door street by street alley by alley;
all for a glimpse of your face!

Out of our separation, my heart's blood gushes from my eyes—
Tigris upon Tigris! 
ocean upon ocean! 
spring upon spring! 
stream upon stream!

Around your pursed lips, your amber-down cheek—
Bud upon bud, 
rose upon rose, 
tulip upon tulip, 
perfume upon perfume!

Your eyebrow and eye and mole are a snare for my heart's bird—
temper to temper, heart to heart, affection to affection, nature to nature.

This sorrowful heart weaves 
your love 
into the fabric of my soul,

string by string 
thread by thread
warp by warp and woof by woof.

Táhirih looked into her own heart,
page by page, fold by fold, veil by veil,
and saw nothing ... 
except You, only You!