Nezami Ganjavi's sokhanee chand dar eshgh (A Few Words on Love)

Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, Nezami’s A Few Words on Love, an excerpt from the romance of Khosrow and Shirin, Part 6.

salām bé hamegee, hello and welcome to our final episode talking about Nezami’s a Few Words on Love, an excerpt from the romance of Khosrow and Shirin!

Before we begin, let’s listen to my khālé Farnaz recite the entire poem from the beginning to the end:

marā k'az eshgh beh nāyad sho'āree.

mabādā tā zeeyam joz eshgh kāree.

falak joz eshgh mehrābee nadārad.

jahān bee khāké eshgh ābee nadārad.

gholāmé eshgh shō k'andeeshé een ast!

hamé sāhebdelān-rā peeshé een ast.

jahān eshgh-ast ō deegar zargh-sāzee.

hamé bāzee-st elā eshgh-bāzee.

agar bee eshgh boodee jāné ālam

ké boodee zendé dar dorāné ālam?

kasee k'az eshgh khālee shod fesord-ast.

garash sad jān bovad bee eshgh mord-ast.

narooyad tokhmé kas bee dānéyé eshgh.

kas eeman neest joz dar khānéyé eshgh.

zé soozé eshgh behtar dar jahān chee-st?

ké bee oo gol nakhandeed, abr nagreest.

tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand.

hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.

gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh

bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh.

gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee

kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?

Okay, wonderful! Hopefully, you understood most of that. Today, we’re going to go over the final remaining lines of the poem. Remember, after this, your task is to learn the poem, memorize it, and to recite it in a beautiful location for us to see:

tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand.

hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.

Okay, this is one of the most incredible lines of the poem; I’m so happy we get to go over it in detail this time! First, “tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand.” The word “tabāyé'” means ‘nature’ or ‘the elements’. tabāyé'.

Then we have “joz,” which means ‘besides’ or ‘other than’. joz.

Then “keshesh,” “keshesh” means ‘drawing’ or ‘pulling together’. keshesh.

And then “kāree nadānand,” “kār” is the word for ‘work’. kār.

So “kāree,” ‘any work’. kāree.

And “kāree nadānand” means ‘they don’t have any work’. kāree nadānand.

‘They have nothing else to do’. kāree nadānand.

So “tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand,” ‘the elements, besides being pulled together, know no other work’, so all they know is being pulled together. Let’s repeat it all: tabāyé' joz keshesh…

kāree nadānand.

‘They can’t do anything besides being pulled together’. The next line is “hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.” Ah, so good! “hakeemān" means ‘scholars’ or ‘wise people’. hakeemān.

Then “een keshesh,” “een” means ‘this’. een.

And you should remember “keshesh” from the last line. What does it mean? ‘Pulling together’. keshesh.

So “een keshesh,” ‘this pull’. een keshesh.

And then “-rā eshgh khānand,” “-rā,” as we know, is the direct object marker, so it’s pointing us to what we’re referring to, referring to the pull. Then “eshgh khānand,” “khānand” means ‘they call’, so ‘they call it love’. eshgh khānand.

So ‘the wise call this pulling together love’, “hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.” Let’s say it bit by bit together: hakeemān een keshesh…

…-rā eshgh khānand.

All right, then next two lines:

gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh

bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh.

The first line, it’s “gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh.” “gar” is, again, short for “agar,” which means ‘if’. gar.

Then “andeeshé konee.” “andeeshé” is the Persian word for ‘to think’. andeeshé.

Although in modern conversational Persian, the word “fekr” is more common. fekr.

So “fekr kardan” is the more common verb of ‘to think’, but this has Arabic roots. The Persian version, which is less common in spoken conversational Persian, is “andeeshé kardan,” so in this poem, “andeeshé konee” means ‘you think’. andeeshé konee.

So “gar andeeshé konee,” ‘if you think’. gar andeeshé konee.

And then “az rāhé beenesh,” “az” means ‘from’. az.

“rāh” is the ‘way’ or the ‘path’. rāh.

And “beenesh” is ‘seeing’. beenesh.

So “rāhé beenesh” is ‘the way of seeing’. rāhé beenesh.

It’s literally ‘the way of seeing’, but Sahba translates it as ‘the path of insight’, which I think makes sense here. rāhé beenesh, ‘the truth or the path of seeing’.

“gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh” altogether means ‘if you think from the path of seeing’, or as Sahba translated it, ‘if you ponder through the path of true enlightenment, you would see…’. Let’s say this together: gar andeeshé konee…

az rāhé beenesh…

And then the next line is “bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh.” First, we have “bé eshgh ast.” “bé” is the word for ‘to’. bé.

Then, of course, “eshgh,” ‘love’. eshgh.

Then “ast” means ‘is’. ast.

So “bé eshgh ast,” ‘to love is’. bé eshgh ast.

Then “eestādé” means ‘standing’. eestādé.

And then “āfareenesh” means ‘creation’. āfareenesh.

So “eestādé āfareenesh” means ‘has stood creation’. eestādé āfareenesh.

All together, “bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh” means ‘to love is standing all of creation’, or, as Sahba translates it, ‘that the very essence of all creation stands upon love’. Let’s repeat this line together: bé eshgh ast…

eestādé āfareenesh.

All right!! Let’s hear my khālé Farnaz say these lines and hear the very last line we’ll be learning:

tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand.

hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.

gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh

bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh.

gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee

kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?

Okay, we usually only learn two lines per lesson, but this time we’re left with this beautiful last bonus line! So, the full line is: “gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee, kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?”

First, “gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee,” you should very easily understand “gar az eshgh” now. “gar” is, again, short for “agar,” which is ‘if’, and then “az” means ‘from', and “eshgh,” of course, means ‘love’. gar az eshgh.

Then “āsemān,” which means ‘sky’, āsemān…

…and then “āzād” means free. āzād.

You should recognize this from the slogan “zan zendegee āzādee,” Woman Life Freedom, which has been the rallying cry the past few years. Then finally, “boodee,” “boodee” is actually just "bood," with an extra “ee” sound. “bood” means' ‘was’. bood…

…or boodee.

So “gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee" means ‘if from love the sky was free’, so the sky did not have any love. Let’s repeat it bit by bit: gar az eshgh…

āsemān āzād boodee…

And then “kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?” “kojā” means ‘where’ or ‘how’. kojā.

Then “hargez” means ‘ever’. hargez.

Next is “zameen,” and that simply means the ‘ground’ or ‘earth’. zameen.

Then “ābād” means verdant or lush. ābād.

And again, “boodee,” ‘was’. boodee.

So “kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?” means ‘when would the earth ever be so lush?’. “kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?” so ‘were it not for love in the sky, when would the earth ever be so lush?’ or, as Sahba translates it, ‘if the sky was free of love, how could the earth ever be so verdant and lush?’.

And with that, we come to the end of all the words and phrases for this beautiful poem, A Few Words on Love. Now, let’s hear my khālé Farnaz repeat the entire poem, and now you should be able to understand all of it:

marā k'az eshgh beh nāyad sho'āree.

mabādā tā zeeyam joz eshgh kāree.

falak joz eshgh mehrābee nadārad.

jahān bee khāké eshgh ābee nadārad.

gholāmé eshgh shō k'andeeshé een ast!

hamé sāhebdelān-rā peeshé een ast.

jahān eshgh-ast ō deegar zargh-sāzee.

hamé bāzee-st elā eshgh-bāzee.

agar bee eshgh boodee jāné ālam

ké boodee zendé dar dorāné ālam?

kasee k'az eshgh khālee shod fesord-ast.

garash sad jān bovad bee eshgh mord-ast.

narooyad tokhmé kas bee dānéyé eshgh.

kas eeman neest joz dar khānéyé eshgh.

zé soozé eshgh behtar dar jahān chee-st?

ké bee oo gol nakhandeed, abr nagreest.

tabāyé' joz keshesh kāree nadānand.

hakeemān een keshesh-rā eshgh khānand.

gar andeeshé konee az rāhé beenesh

bé eshgh ast eestādé āfareenesh.

gar az eshgh āsemān āzād boodee

kojā hargez zameen ābād boodee?

And that’s it! I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts after having studied this poem in such detail, and you know that your task now is to memorize these lines and make them part of your very being. I think that this poem has such an important message that can resonate at all times, especially in really tumultuous times like this. Chai and Conversation members, you know where to go to get the full poem discussion and to submit your video reciting this poem.

Everyone else, you should become a member so that you can join in the discussion! Details for that are in the show notes for this lesson.

Plenty more poems are on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com. Check them out, and until next time, as always, bé omeedé deedār from Leyla.