Friday, April 9, 2010

"The Rose-garden of Secrets"

The first two verses of the Gulshan-i Rāz of Maḥmūd Shabistarī are among the most exquisite verses I have ever read in my whole life.

بنام آنکه جان را فکرت آموخت
چراغ دل بنور جان بر افروخت

ز فضلش هر دو عالم گشت روشن
ز فضلش خاک آدم گشت گلشن

There is no way I can capture their power and compactness in English, but I am driven (like a moth to the flame?) to try to translate them:

In the Name of Him, who taught the soul to think,
Who kindled the lamp of the heart with the light of the soul.

From His excellence, the Two Worlds are illuminated;
From His excellence, Adam's dust becomes a rose-garden.

How can I capture the majesty and the beauty of such lines?


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