| Re: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam [message #118006 is a reply to message #118002 ] |
Wed, 30 June 2010 16:49   |
 Elinor 
Messages: 2122
Registered: July 2007
Location: Iran |
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بر لوح نشان بودنی ها بوده است
پیوسته قلم ز نيک و بد فرسوده است
در روز ازل هر آن چه بايست بداد
غم خوردن و کوشيدن ما بيهوده است
Bar lowh neshan-e boodani-ha bodast
Peyvasteh ghalam zeh neek o bad farsoodast
Dar rooz-e-azal har an che baayast bedad
Gham khordan o kooshidan-e ma beehoodast
Translation:
On the tabulets [ of destiny] there had been the sign of all what is there
The pen that had been all the time keeping the account of good and bad has broken down
[ the one who bestows every thing upon us] has given us whatever we have in our destiny right from the beginning,
Our feeling sad about that or our trying to change the course of events is just vain,
Note: At the time Kayyam was around there was this philosophy of " Jabriyyon or eshraghiyyoon". They believed what happens had been planned before and it is not in the power of man to change his desinty, so even trying to do that is vain and it is not recommendable to do something vain. It is even worse to feel sad, one needs to enjoy life the way it is to the last. With all that, Khayyam does challenge the creator of the world for the measures the creator. Because of that he is still called an infidel among many who are devoted to religion even nowadays. The philosophy that he reflects through his poetry is not appreciated by our regime at the moment, so few years back exactly the time when in his hometown neyshabour there was a get-together celebrating Khayyam, many local papers and online magazines were filtered, because only one way of looking at this man is appreciated and that is assuming that when he talks about " wine" he is talking of the conceptually drinking wine and the feeling of lightheartedness that might be the product of meditation and worship bla bla. That is something that allows poets to still talk about wine in their poetry though it is something evil. The devil is after you if you drink wine and in case you marry your daughter to someone who drinks wine, it is as if you have given your daughter to brothels. This you hear even today and one cannot imagine if in the 21 century this is the way a man who drinks considered, how would Khayyam be tolerated back in his time. Perhaps because of all his scholarly contributions he was somehow immune to the rage of the fundamental setting, or the kings would shield him if the kings were not fundamental. Back in those days you would see that from the same line of dynasty one would come who would be more tolerant of what is called disobedience toward religion and then the son of the same man or his brother would become king perhaps by killing, poisoning or blinding the brother and then he would show a different set of behaviors regarding what should and what should not be tolerated. The second king would not last for long as well, so we can remember Hafez, the poet from Shiraz who says :
که دور شاه شجاع است می دلیر بنوش
ke dowr-e shah-e shoja' ast, mey dalir benoosh
Meaning: That it is the kingdom of Shah-e-shoja' , so drink your wine daringly
Iran is still being ruled the same fashion , different people reach the state of power and apply their very personal set of rules which change drastically when they are overthrown or replaced by the other. Iran had been swinging back and forth as long as history remembers and perhaps there will come a time where this pendulum stops this crazy motion. At least in a way that the shift of power wouldn't hurt the people. I am saying that hearing about the houses of 50 Bahais in the north of Iran being ruined just recently..
ای چرخ فلک خرابی از کینه تست
بیدادگری پیشه ديرينه تست
وی خاک اگر سينه تو بشکافند
بس گوهر قیمتی که در سینه تست
Ey charkh-e-falak kharabi az kineh torast
Beedad-gari peeshe-ye dirineh torast
Vey khaak agar seene-ye to beshkafand
Bas goohar-e-gheymati ke dar seene-ye tost
Translation:
Oh you the wheel of fortune, the corruption is all yours
Oppression and injustice is your ancient occupation
Oh you the earth is someone tears your chest open
ٰthat person would find many precious gems that you have hidden in your chest,
Note: This is one if the instances when Khayyam questions the course of events, the natural laws of being born and then dying and being buried in the earth.
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| Re: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam [message #118203 is a reply to message #118006 ] |
Mon, 05 July 2010 02:55 |
Elinor
Messages: 2122
Registered: July 2007
Location: Iran |
Member |
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چون چرخ بکام يک خردمند نگشت
خواهی تو فلک هفت شمُر خواهی هشت
چون بايد مرد و آرزوها همه هِشت
چو مور خورد به گور و چه گرگ به دشت
Chon charkh bekam-e yek kherad-mand nagasht
Khahi to falak haft shomor khahi hasht
Chon bayad mord o aarezoo-ha hameh hesht
Cho moor khorar be goor o che gorg be dasht
Translation:
Now that this wheel of fortune[ the world, the destiniy] is not spinning to the taste of even a single wiseman
It doesn't matter whether you claim that the heavens are 7 or eight in number
For the reason that one has to die and leave behind all the wishes
It doesn't make any difference if you are consumed by ants in the grave or you are devoured by wolves in the desert.
اجزای پياله ای که در هم پيوست
بشکستن آن روا نمی دارد مست
چندين سر و ساق نازنين و کف دست
از مهر که پيوست و به کين که شکست
Ajzaa-ye piyaleh-ey keh dar ham peyvast
Beshkastan-e an rava nemidarad mast
Chandin sar o saagh-e nazanin o kafe dast
Az mehr-e ke peyvast o be keen-e ke shekast?
Translation:
The pieces that constitute a bowl ( instead of glass for wine, made of clay which are usually painted)
Even a drunkard does not find appropriate to break into pieces
These many heads and hands and endeared palms
Who did put together to form a human being through love and who was so spiteful to break them down into pieces again?
Note: There is this recurring theme in the robaiyyat questioning the wisdom of creating and then breaking what is created down, giving life to something created and then taking this life away as if you make something out of clay and then you break it into pieces, the wisdom is always questioned. The instruments, the jar that contains wine is thought of as something made of the clay that has been formed out of the decomposed remnants of a dead body. The setting of the poetry is usually the winehouse, the bar, where the poet drinks and often talks of the bowl of wine, of Saaghi, the bartender, who offers wine, usually a beautiful woman, with hands as beautiful in complexion and shape as silver, so her hand is pleasing, she offers wine and she has beautiful hands, palms, whatever is visible to a drunken man who strives for even more wine, who finds the host so pleasing, so generous, go gorgeous and then he looks back at the bowl and finds the clay that composed the artifact made out of the body of the same host, literally he supposes that and he cannot find the wisdom why this beautiful body, this beautiful palm and and legs that the creator put together to create a whole, a human being as pleasing and as great as this host of wine, how could he break that back into pieces, what is the wisdom behind that while a drunken man wouldn't feel like breaking the bowl that contains wine, since it is beautiful, even though he is not conscious.
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| Re: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam [message #119045 is a reply to message #115398 ] |
Sun, 01 August 2010 07:29 |
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Thank You, Elinor for continuing to respond like you have been on this. It brightens my day every time I read these.
Mark
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent - Isaac Asimov
Mark of Lewiston
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