Divan-e Shams› Ghazal 5 ← previous · next →
Divan-e Shams · G5 · 13 beyts
غزل شمارهٔ ۵
This ghazal is an ecstatic celebration of a beloved whose beauty is overwhelming and all-consuming. The speaker catalogues the beloved's physical perfection, comparing them to nature and the cosmos, while describing their own state of burning, bewilderment, and joyful surrender. The poem portrays love as a beautiful, paradoxical affliction—a 'pain without a cure'—that both torments the soul and gives it life.
The ghazal opens with a breathless inventory of the beloved's physical attributes, a beauty so complete it defies comparison to any single element of nature (beyt 1-2). The speaker then addresses Love directly as a fiery force that raids the heart, begging for a moment's peace (beyt 3). This burning becomes the speaker's personal condition, a sleepless vigil sustained only by the vision of the beloved's sun-like face (beyt 4), before whom the speaker prostrates in silent, preemptive worship (beyt 5). A turn occurs as the speaker questions how this universal source of light and life can also be a source of pain and cruelty (beyt 6), detailing the beloved's confusing push-and-pull commands (beyt 7). The heart, having lost all its former stability, explains that its state is entirely due to the beloved's captivating features (beyt 9-10). In a climactic redefinition, the speaker gives Love a new name: 'the incurable pain' (beyt 11). The ghazal closes with a plea for sustenance and mercy, as the speaker's very soul is being ground down by this divine, relentless desire (beyt 12-13).
Open any couplet for its own page — rendering, commentary, hard words.
- G5:1 آن شکل بین وان شیوه بین وان قد و خد و دست و پاآن رنگ بین وان هنگ بین وان ماه بدر اندر قبا See that form, see that grace, see that stature and face and hand and foot,See that color, see that splendor, and that full moon inside a robe.The poem begins with a direct command to behold the beloved's overwhelming physical perfection, from their overall form to the radiant beauty that shines from within their clothes.
- G5:2 از سرو گویم یا چمن از لاله گویم یا سمناز شمع گویم یا لگن یا رقص گل پیش صبا Should I speak of the cypress or the meadow, of the tulip or the jasmine?Should I speak of the candle or the basin, or the rose dancing before the morning breeze?The beloved's beauty is so multifaceted that no single comparison to elements of nature—tall trees, flowers, or even the dramatic image of a candle and basin—can suffice to describe it.
- G5:3 ای عشق چون آتشکده در نقش و صورت آمدهبر کاروان دل زده، یک دم امان ده یا فتی O Love, like a fire-temple you have appeared in form and figure,striking the heart's caravan—grant a moment's safety, O hero!The speaker addresses Love itself, which has manifested in the beloved's beautiful form, attacking the speaker's heart like a highway robber attacking a caravan, and begs for a moment of relief.
- G5:4 در آتش و در سوز من، شب می‌برم تا روز منای فرخ پیروز من از روی آن شمس‌الضحی In my fire and in my burning, I pass my night until my day,O my auspicious, victorious one, from the face of that sun of morning light.My entire existence, day and night, is a state of burning devotion, a condition made fortunate and triumphant by gazing upon the beloved's face, which is as radiant as the morning sun.
- G5:5 بر گرد ماهش می‌تنم، بی‌لب سلامش می‌کنمخود را زمین برمی‌زنم زان پیش کو گوید صلا I weave myself around his moon, I greet him without lips,I throw myself to the ground, before he even calls me to approach.I orbit the beloved's moon-like face and communicate my devotion without words, prostrating myself in complete surrender even before being summoned.
- G5:6 گلزار و باغ عالمی چشم و چراغ عالمیهم درد و داغ عالمی، چون پا نهی اندر جفا؟ You are the rose-garden and orchard of the world, the eye and lantern of the world,also the pain and wound of the world—why do you step into cruelty?You are the source of all beauty and light for the world, but you are also the source of its suffering. Why, then, do you choose to act with such harshness?
- G5:7 آیم کنم جان را گرو، گویی مده زحمت، بروخدمت کنم تا واروم گویی که ای ابله بیا I come to offer my soul as a pledge; you say, 'Don't bother, go away.'I serve until I am free; you say, 'O fool, come here.'The beloved's commands are contradictory and bewildering: when I offer everything, I am rejected, and when I try to gain my freedom through service, I am mockingly called back.
- G5:8 گشته خیال همنشین با عاشقان آتشینغایب مبادا صورتت یک دم ز پیش چشم ما The image of the companion has become one with the fiery lovers;may your form not be absent for a single moment from before our eyes.The beloved's image is now inseparable from the very being of those who burn with love for you. This couplet is a prayer: may we never lose sight of your image.
- G5:9 ای دل قرار تو چه شد وان کار و بار تو چه شدخوابت که می‌بندد چنین اندر صباح و در مسا O heart, what became of your stability? And what of your work and business?Who binds your sleep like this, in the morning and in the evening?The speaker addresses their own heart, asking what has happened to its former peace and purpose, and questioning who is responsible for this constant, sleepless state.
- G5:10 دل گفت حسن روی او وان نرگس جادوی اووان سنبل ابروی او وان لعل‌ِ شیرین‌ماجرا The heart replied: 'The beauty of his face, and his bewitching narcissus eyes,and the hyacinth of his eyebrow, and his ruby lip of sweet tales.'The heart answers the previous question by listing the beloved's captivating features—beautiful face, magical eyes, arched eyebrows, and enchanting lips—as the cause of its condition.
- G5:11 ای عشق پیش هر کسی نام و لقب داری بسیمن دوش نام دیگرت کردم که درد بی‌دوا O Love, before every person you have many names and titles;last night I gave you another name: 'the pain without a cure.'Love is known by many different names to different people, but based on my own recent experience, I have given it a new, definitive title: the incurable affliction.
- G5:12 ای رونق جانم ز تو، چون چرخْ گردانم ز توگندم فرست ای جان که تا خیره نگردد آسیا O you, the splendor of my soul is from you, like a wheel I am turned by you.Send wheat, O Soul, so that the millstone does not turn in vain.My life's vitality comes from you, and you control my every motion. I beg you to provide sustenance (your presence), so that my soul, which is like a millstone constantly turning for you, is not worn down for nothing.
- G5:13 دیگر نخواهم زد نفس این بیت را می‌گوی و بسبگداخت جانم زین هوس ارفق بنا یا ربنا I will not draw another breath; say this one line and no more:'My soul has melted from this desire'—be gentle with us, O our Lord!I am exhausted and can say no more. Let this final couplet be my only utterance: my soul is consumed by this longing. The poem ends with a direct prayer for mercy.
ganjoor: sh5 · public domain