Fifty rubai'yat (poems of Rumi cycle)

 

I never tried to publish the English versions of the rubaiyat, they were a kind if by-product of my work on a Polish translation. However, I sometimes read them at poetry meetings, for example at London's Poetry Café. As it happened, at one of those meetings a publisher was present, Isabel del Rio, owner of "Friends of Alice" publishing house. She liked them enough to suggest that they may be published in a book. Which happened and the book can now be purchased at Amazon.

At one point, long before the book was published, my Persian friend Ziba introduced me to a calligrapher named Morteza. He himself was a dervish, although not of the same order as Maulana Rumi. When I had a proposition to publish my collection of translations, I asked Morteza to illustrate it with his calligraphy. So here it is, the calligraphy in the style called nastaliq, although Morteza sometimes makes modern impression of that.

708.

I glimpsed your face and my sadness is gone;

To your face I am faithful, all others are gone.

I asked my heart about its desire,

But it didn’t have any, all my desires were gone.

708

دیدم رخت از غم سر موییم نماند

جز بندگی ی روی تو روییم نماند

با دل گفتم که آرزویی در خواه

دل گفت که هیچ آرزویی م نماند

1798.

You want goodness, but goodness is not what you bring,

If you’re creating evil, evil you will meet.

The compassion of God cannot change much here:

If you are sowing barley, you will not reap wheat.

1798

بد می‌کنی و نیک طمع می‌داری

هم بد باشد سزای بدکرداری

با این که خداوند کریم و است و رحیم

گندم ندهد بار چو جو می‌کاری

The book "Fifty Rubai'yat" can be purchased at Amazon

Kuliyat-e Divan-e Shams (poems of Rumi cycle)

 

I was proud of myself not only because I found "Kuliyat-e Divan-e Shams" without help, but also because the author of "Kuliyat" not Rumi, but ostensibly one Jalaluddin Balkhi (and I knew it was the same person).

The book was published in Iran and the Iranians don't like to call him Rumi. The name "Rumi" suggests that he came from Rum, which is a Persian name for Anatolia, then newly conquered by Turks. So this name suggests that he was somehow Turkish (which is what the Turks claim). But of course Rumi wrote in Persian, he is considered one of the greatest poets of that language; how could he be a Turk? However, Rumi was born in Balkh, which now is in Afghanistan but at least it is a Pesrian-speaking town. Let's call him Balkhi, then.

"Kuliyat" in this context means something like "complete", so the whole title would be "Complete Divan-e Shams". It is a collection of ghazals and rubaiyat which are in an alphabetical order and numbered. Alphabetical order, but counting letter from the end of the rhyme (which in most cases is the same word repeated three or four times).

Here I am presenting two rubaiyat with the same rhyme مترس matars, which means "fear not", although I decided to translate it into two different phrases.

Rubaiyat often had an extra word ending each line, often separate from the phrase that each line was, called redif. I am presenting here one rubai with a redif بیا biya (which I translated into a phrase "come to us")

977.

This world is being born, you don’t need to worry.

What comes will go away, you don’t need to worry.

Treat as a precious treasure every breath of life;

Forget the past, about the future you don’t need to worry.

977

از حادثه ی جهان زاینده مترس

وز هرچه رسد چو نیست پاینده مترس

این یکدم عمر را غنیمت می دان

از رفته میندیش وز آینده مترس

984.

Go forward on our path and have no fear,

Make sure you stay on the path and have no fear.

Even if the whole world wants you to die,

Don’t lose faith, stay with us and have no fear.

984

رو در صف بندگان ما باش و مترس

خاک در آسمان ما باش و مترس

گر جمله ی خلق قصد جان تو کنند

دل تنگ مکن از آن ما باش و مترس

15.

You who are as bright as the sun - come to us.

Without you leaves fall down from trees - come to us.

The world without you is covered in dust - come to us.

Meetings of friends are frosty without you - come to us.

15

ای آنکه چو آفتاب فرد است بیا

بیرون تو برگ و باغ زرد است بیا

عالم بی‌تو غبار و گرد است بیا

این مجلس عیش بی‌تو سرد است بیا