from Vol. #7, Issue 1: Spring 2016
translated from Persian by Ralph T. H. Griffith

Love
from Yúsuf and Zulaikha by Jámí

No heart is that which love ne'er wounded: they
Who know not lovers' pangs are soulless clay.
Turn from the world, 0 turn thy wandering feet;
Come to the world of love and find it sweet.
    Heaven's giddy round from craze of love was caught;
From love's disputes the world with strife is fraught.
Love's slave be thou if thou would fain be free:
Welcome love's pangs, and happy shalt thou be.
From wine of love come joy and generous heat:
From meaner cups flow sorrow and deceit.
Love's sweet, soft memories youth itself restore:
The tale of love gives fame for evermore.
If Majnún ne'er the cup of love had drained,
High fame in heaven and earth he ne'er had gained.
A thousand sages, deep in wisdom's lore,
Untaught of love, died, and are known no more:
Without a name or trace in death they sank,
And in the book of Time their name is blank.
    The groves are gay with many a lovely bird:
Our lips are silent and their praise unheard;
But when the theme is love's delicious tale,
The moth is lauded and the nightingale.
What though a hundred arts to thee be known:
Freedom from self is gained through love alone.
To worldly love thy youthful thoughts incline,
For earthly love will lead to love divine.
First with the Alphabet thy task begin,
Then take the Word of God and read therein.
    Once to his master a disciple cried :-
"To wisdom's pleasant path be thou my guide."
"Hast thou ne'er loved?" the master answered; "learn
The ways of love and then to me return."
Drink deep of earthly love, that so thy lip
May learn the wine of holier love to sip.
But let not form too long thy soul entrance;
Pass o'er the bridge: with rapid feet advance.
If thou would rest, thine ordered journey sped,
Forbear to linger at the bridge's head.
    Thank God that ever from mine early days
My steps have been in love's delightful ways.
Love stood beside me when my life was new,
And from my mother's breast love's milk I drew.
White as that milk are now my hairs, but still
Sweet thoughts of love mine aged bosom thrill.
Still in my heart the youthful warmth I feel,
While in mine ear re-echoes Love's appeal :-
"In love, 0 Jámí, have thy days been passed:
Die in that love gay-hearted to the last.
Some talc of love's adventure, that may win
Thy name remembrance in the world, begin:
Some picture with thy finest pen assay,
Which still may live when thou art gone away."
    I heard entranced : my spirit rushed to meet
Love's welcome order, for the voice was sweet;
"With gladsome heart the clear command obeyed,
And straight the magic of new spells essayed.
Now if kind Heaven will bless and aid the task,
And lade my palm-tree with the fruit I ask,
I from this glowing heart will pour a song
To melt the tender and to move the strong;
Veil the blue vault of heaven with cloud of sighs,
And with wild weeping dim its starry eyes.

Sourced from the verse translation published by Trübner & Co. of London in 1882. The staff of Pusteblume has typeset and proofed this text from a public domain source scan provided to Archive.org by one of its institutional partners, the University of Toronto.

See also: Homepage for this feature | Editor's Note by Zachary Bos | Preface | Excerpt 1: "Beauty" | Excerpt 2: "Love" | Excerpt 3: "Speech" | Excerpt 4: "The First Vision" | Excerpt 5: "Yusuf's Dream" | Excerpt 6: "The Garden" | A brief annotated bibliography for recent writings about the poetry and legacy of Jámí

About the author (quoting the Preface to the 1882 Trübner & Co. edition): "Núru-d-dín Abdu-r-Rahmán was born in the year 1414 A.D., at Jám, a little town in Khurásán, from which he took the poetic name, Jámí, by which he is generally known. At the age of five he received the name of Núru-d-dín, or, Light of the Faith; and in later life his learning, fame, and sanctity gained for him the title of Mauláná, or, Our Master. He studied at Herát and Samarkand, where he not only outstripped the ablest and most diligent of his fellow-students, but puzzled the most learned of his teachers. The fame of his learning soon spread to the most distant provinces of Persia, and into other Asiatic countries. Sultan Abu Sa’íd, Tímur’s uncle, invited him to his court at Herát, and all the princes, nobles, and learned men of the time sought the company of the distinguished poet. In 1472 A.D., Jámí performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and, after some stay at Baghdad, returned in the following year to Herát, where he died in 1492."

About the translator: Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith (1826–1906) was a scholar of Indology. Educated at Queen's College, over his career he produced translations of the Ramayana, the Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa, and the Vedic scriptures.

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