Divan-e Shams› Ghazal 1 next →
Divan-e Shams · G1 · 10 beyts
غزل شمارهٔ ۱
The ghazal unfolds as a direct, ecstatic invocation to a divine presence, addressed as 'You.' It begins by defining this 'You' with paradoxical, cosmic images: a 'sudden resurrection' and a 'fire in the thicket of thoughts,' highlighting its power to disrupt and illuminate the inner world (beyt 1). The arrival of this presence is a liberating event, a key to the prison of the self, and a manifestation of divine grace (beyt 2). Rumi then identifies this Beloved as the absolute reality, simultaneously the seeker, the sought, the origin, and the end of all things (beyt 3), and the one who both plants and fulfills all desires within the human heart (beyt 4). A sharp turn occurs as the poem dismisses worldly knowledge and action as mere 'pretext and fraud' compared to the Beloved, who is the true cause and cure (beyt 5). This fraud leads humanity astray, trapping it in petty conflicts and base desires for 'houris, bread, and soup' (beyt 6). The poem then calls for an abandonment of conventional reason ('aql) and narrative ('naql) for the intoxicating 'wine' and 'delicacies' of mystical experience (beyt 7). The Beloved is revealed as a hidden puppet master, orchestrating the conflicts of the world through an invisible artistry (beyt 8). The final couplets urge a secret turning of the soul toward this reality, recognizing worldly excuses as lies (beyt 9), before the poet abruptly breaks off, silencing the pen to answer the Sāqi's call to drink (beyt 10).
Open any couplet for its own page — rendering, commentary, hard words.
- G1:1 اِی رَستخیزِ ناگهان وی رحمتِ بیمُنتهااِی آتشی اَفروخته، در بیشهٔ اَندیشهها O sudden resurrection, O mercy without end,O fire set alight in the thicket of thoughts!The poem opens with a direct address to a divine presence, describing it as a startling, world-changing event and an infinite kindness that burns away the tangled undergrowth of the mind.
- G1:2 امروز خَندان آمدی، مِفتاحِ زندان آمدیبر مُستمندان آمدی، چون بَخشش و فَضلِ خدا Today you came laughing, you came as the key to the prison,you came to the destitute like the grace and bounty of God.Your arrival is a joyful liberation for those in need, freeing them from the prison of the self and worldly suffering, just as divine grace would.
- G1:3 خورشید را حاجِب تویی، اومید را واجِب توییمطلب تویی طالب تویی، هم مُنتها هم مُبتدا You are the chamberlain to the sun, you are the necessity for hope,you are the object, you are the subject, both the end and the beginning.You control access to all light and make hope itself possible. You are everything in the act of seeking: the one who searches, the thing being searched for, the starting point, and the final goal.
- G1:4 در سینهها برخاسته، اندیشه را آراستههَم خویش حاجَت خواسته، هَم خویشتن کَرده رَوا Risen up in our breasts, adorning our thought,you yourself have asked the favor, and you yourself have granted it.You are the internal force that inspires our deepest thoughts and desires. Paradoxically, you are both the source of the prayer and the one who answers it.
- G1:5 اِی روحبخشِ بیبَدَل، وِی لَذّتِ علم و عملباقی بهانهست و دَغَل، کاین علّت آمد وان دَوا O peerless giver of spirit, O pleasure of knowledge and action,the rest is pretext and fraud, that 'this was the cause, and that the cure.'You are the unique source of life and the true joy behind all learning and doing. All other explanations for why things happen—all worldly causality—are just deceptive distractions.
- G1:6 ما زان دَغَل کَژبین شده، با بیگُنه در کین شدهگَه مَستِ حورَالعین شده، گَه مستِ نان و شوربا From that fraud we've become cross-eyed, at war with the innocent,one moment drunk on the houris of heaven, the next on bread and soup.Deceived by worldly appearances, we misperceive reality and create conflict. Our desires swing wildly between imagined spiritual rewards and the most basic physical cravings.
- G1:7 این سُکر بین هِل عَقل را، وین نُقل بین هِل نَقل راکَز بهرِ نان و بَقل را، چندین نشاید ماجرا See this intoxication, let reason go! See this delicacy, let doctrine go!For the sake of bread and greens, so much drama is not worthwhile.Embrace this divine ecstasy and abandon conventional logic. Taste this spiritual sweetness and abandon secondhand religious teachings. All the striving and conflict for mere physical survival is unworthy.
- G1:8 تَدبیرِ صَد رَنگ اَفکنی، بَر روم و بَر زَنگ اَفکنیوَ اندر میان جَنگ اَفکنی، «فی اِصطِناعٍ لا یُری» You devise a hundred-colored scheme, you cast it on Rome and on Africa,and in the middle you start a war, 'in a making that is not seen.'You are the hidden creator behind the world's complex events, setting nations and peoples against each other through a divine, invisible artistry.
- G1:9 میمال پنهان گوشِ جان، مینِه بَهانه بَر کَسانجان «رَبِّ خَلِّصنی» زَنان، والله که لاغ است ای کیا Secretly, you twist the soul's ear; openly, you place the blame on others.The soul cries 'O Lord, deliver me!', but by God, it's a game, O great one!You are the one who secretly guides the soul, even as we blame external forces for our troubles. The soul's desperate prayer for salvation is part of a divine play that you orchestrate.
- G1:10 خامُش که بَس مُستَعجِلَم، رَفتم سویِ پایِ عَلَمکاغذ بِنِه بِشکن قَلَم، ساقی دَرآمد الصَلا Be silent, for I am in a great hurry; I have gone to the foot of the standard.Set down the paper, break the pen! The Sāqi has entered with the call to prayer!The poem must end because I am urgently called away to join the Beloved's army. The act of writing is over; the Cupbearer has arrived, calling us to the intoxicating prayer of union.
ganjoor: sh1 · public domain