A dialogue between Man and God

This is another one of the songs from the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack of the movie Bab'Aziz, interleaving verses in Bengali (from a Baul song, according to a friend) and verses in Persian by Muhammad Iqbal. I don’t know any Bengali, but I can translate the Persian here. It’s part of his Payām-i Mashriq, a collection of Persian poems that is among the last works composed by South Asians in Persian that achieved renown in Iran and Afghanistan.




The original actually begins with three verses in the voice of God, after which follow the three verses that are sung in the video by Salar Aghili, in the voice of Man.

خدا:

جهان را ز یک آب و گل آفریدم

تو ایران و تاتار و زنگ آفریدی

من از خاک پولاد ناب آفریدم

تو شمشیر و تیر و تفنگ آفریدی

تبر آفریدی نهال چمن را

قفس ساختی طائر نغمه‌زن را

Khodā:

jahān-rā ze yek āb-o gel āfarīdam
to īrān-o tātār-o zang āfarīdī

man az khāk pūlād-e nāb āfarīdam
to shamshīr-o tīr-o tofang āfarīdī

tabar āfaridi nahāl-e chaman-rā
qafas sākhti tāyer-e naghmeh-zan-rā


God:

I created the world from a flower and water

You created Iran, Tatar(stan) and the Congo

From dust, I created pure iron

You created sword and arrow and gun

You created axes for saplings

You built cages for songbirds

انسان:

تو شب آفریدی چراغ آفریدم

سفال آفریدی ایاغ آفریدم

بیابان و کهسار و راغ آفریدی

خیابان و گلزار و باغ آفریدم

من آنم که از سنگ آئینه سازم

من آنم که از زهر نوشینه سازم

Insān:

to shab āfarīdī charāgh āfarādam
sofāl āfarīdī ayāgh āfarādam

biyābān-o koh-sār-o rāgh āfarīdī
khiyābān-o golzār-o bāgh āfaridam

man ān-am keh az sang āyīneh sāzam

man ān-am keh az zehr nūshineh sāzam

Man:

You created Night, I created lights

You created clay, I created goblets

You created desert and mountain and field

I created boulevard and park and garden 

I am he who turns stone into mirrors

I am he who turns poison into the nectar of immortality