[Sunlight] The story of the reed

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In memory of the birth of Maulaana Jalalludin Balkhi, known as
"Rumi", Sunlight offers today the first few verses from his Mathnawi,
the story of the reed, in an unplublished transliteration and
translation by Yahya Monastra:

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Be-shenaw az nay chon hekâyat mi konad
az jodâyi-hâ shekâyat mi konad

Listen to the reed as it tells its tale;
it complains of separation.

kaz nayestân merâ bo-b'rideh-'and
az nafiram mard o zan nâlideh-'and

Since they cut me from the reed-bed,
men and women have been crying over my lament.

sineh khvâham sharheh sharheh az ferâq
tâ be-guyam sharh-e dard-e eshtiyâq

I wish for someone with a bosom torn apart by separation,
so that I can tell them the meaning of the pain of longing.

har kasi ku dur mânad az asl-e khvish
bâz juyad ruz kâr vasl-e khvish

Everyone who stays far away from his own origin
seeks to get back to the day he was together with it.

man beh har jam`iyati nâlân shodam
joft-e bad hâlân o khvosh hâlân shodam

I have been crying in every gathering;
I have kept company with the miserable and the happy.

har kasi az zann-e khvod shod yâr-e man
az darun-e man na-jost asrâr-e man

Everyone has thought he is my friend,
but no one has sought my inner secrets.

serr-e man az nâleh-ye man dur nist
lik cheshm o gush-râ ân nur nist

My secret is not far from my crying,
but neither eye nor ear has the light to find it.

tan ze jân va jân ze tan mastur nist
lik kas-râ did-e jân dastur nist

Body from soul, soul from body are not veiled,
but no one has permission to see the soul.

âteshast in bâng-e nây va nist bâd
har keh in âtash na-dârad nist bâd

This call of the reed is fire, not wind.
Everyone who has not this fire--should be naught.

âtesh `eshqast k-andar nay fotâd
jushesh `eshqast k-andar may fotâd

The fire is love that came down into the reed;
its fervor is love that came down into the wine.

nay harif-e har keh az yâri borid
parde-hâ'esh parde-hâ-ye mâ darid

The reed is the companion of everyone parted from a beloved.
Its tunes have torn apart our veils.

hamcho nay zahri o teryâqi keh did
hamcho nay damsâz o moshtâqi keh did

Who has seen such a poison and antidote as the reed?
Who has seen such a sympathizer and longing lover as the reed?

nay hadis-e râh-e por khun mi konad
qesseh-hâ-ye `eshq-e majnun mi konad

The reed tells the tale of the Way full of blood.
It tells the love stories of Layla and Majnun.

mahram-e in hush joz bihush nist
mar zabân-râ moshtari joz gush nist

No one but the delirious is intimate with this consciousness.
The tongue has no customer but the ear.

dar ghamm-e mâ ruz-hâ bigâh shod
ruz-hâ bâ suz-hâ hamrâh shod

In our sorrow the days have become untimely.
The days accompany the burning griefs.

ruz-hâ gar raft gu raw bâk nist
to be-mân ay ânkeh chon to pâk nist

If the days are gone, tell them "Go!" and never mind.
But Thou, please stay, for none is as holy as Thou.

har keh joz mâhi ze âbesh sir shod
har keh bi ruzist ruzesh dir shod

Everyone but the fish is fed up with his water.
For everyone without daily bread, his day is very long.

dar niyâbad hâl-e pokhteh hich khâm
pas sokhan kutâh bâyad va-al-salâm

No one who is raw can understand the state of the cooked.
So the talk should be short. "That's all!"

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[Sunlight] The story of the reed