Simin Behbahani's dobāré meesāzamat vatan

Dorood bar hamegee- salām and welcome to part 4 of our discussion of Simin Behbahani’s beautiful poem, dobāré meesāzamat vatan.

As we do in the beginning of each lesson, let’s listen to my khālé Farnaz recite the entire poem from the beginning through the part we’re going to learn today:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

dobāré meebooyam az tō gol

دوباره می‌بویم از تو گُل،

Once again I will smell your flowers

bé maylé naslé javāné tō

به میل نسل جوان تو

Through the endeavor of your generation of youth

dobāré meeshooyam az tō khoon

دوباره می‌شویم از تو خون،

Once again I’ll wash away blood from you

bé saylé ashké ravāné kheesh

به سیل اشک روان خویش

Through the flood of my flowing tears

dobāré, yek roozé āshenā

دوباره، یک روز آشنا،

Once again, one familiar day

seeyāhee az khāné meeravad

سیاهی از خانه می‌رود

Darkness will leave home

bé she'ré khod rang meezanam

به شعر خود رنگ می‌زنم،

I will color my own poetry

zé ābeeyé āsemāné kheesh

ز آبیِ آسمان خویش

With the blue of your own sky

agar ché sad sālé mordé'am

اگر چه صد ساله مرده‌ام،

Even if I have been dead for a hundred years

bé gooré khod khāham eestād

به گور خود خواهم ایستاد

I will rise and stand on my own grave

ké bardaram ghalbé ahreman

که بردَرَم قلب اهرمن،

So that I can tear apart the devil’s heart

zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

ز نعره‌ی آنچنان خویش

With my loud roaring

kasee ké “azmé rameem” rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf

کسی که «عظم رمیم» را دوباره انشا کند به لطف

The one who re-writes the “mouldering bones” Through his grace and beneficence

chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh, bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh

چو کوه می‌بخشدم شکوه، به عرصه‌ی امتحان خویش

Will grant me splendor, like a mountain, In the arena of his tests

Ok wonderful! So hopefully you understood all the way through the part we’ll be studying today. And we’re going to jump right in. Let’s listen to the first two lines of todays selection:

agar ché sad sālé mordé'am

اگر چه صد ساله مرده‌ام،

Even if I have been dead for a hundred years

bé gooré khod khāham eestād

به گور خود خواهم ایستاد

I will rise and stand on my own grave

So first- agar ché sad sālé mordé’am. We’ve learned agar ché before- it was used in the line agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh- there it meant event if with my own bones. So agar ché means even if. agar ché

(agar ché)

And sad salé. sad is the word for a hundred. sad

(sad)

And sāl is the word for year. sāl

(sāl)

so sad sāl by itself means a hundred years. And sad sālé- that é sound at the end actually stands in for it is. so sad sālé means it is a hundred years. Again, we go into the grammar of this in detail in our speak lessons, lesson 21 to be specific for this one, but the é here actually replaces the word hast or is. so you could say sad sāl hast, and this would mean it is a hundred years. Or you could say sad sālé and this also means it is a hundred years. Just like I could say een ketāb hast, meaning this is a book, versus een ketābé, which means the exact same thing. So sad sālé

(sad sāle)

it is a hundred years

and mordé means dead. mordé

(mordé)

and mordé’am means I am dead. mordé’am

(mordé’am.)

So you can see with the pattern of all these words- when it ends with an am, it’s referring to your self. So meezanam- I will hit. meebooyam- I will smell. meeshooyam - I will wash. So mordé’am means I am dead. mordé’am

(mordé’am)

Ok great so agar ché sad sālé mordé’am altogether means even if it is a hundred years that I am dead. agar ché sad sālé mordé’am

(agar ché sad sālé mordé’am)

And then bé gooré khod khāham eestād

so bé means on. bé

(bé)

and goor is the word for grave. goor

(goor)

khod means myself. khod

(khod)

and gooré khod means the grave of myself. so my grave. gooré khod

(gooré khod)

bé gooré khod means on my grave. bé gooré khod

(bé gooré khod)

and then khāham, means I will, or I shall. khāham

(khāham)

and finally eestād means to stand. eestād

(eestād)

so altogether- bé gooré khod khāham eestād means on the grave of myself I will stand. Let’s repeat it all together. bé gooré khod

(bé gooré khod)

khāham eestād

(khāham eestād)

Ok great! So, agar ché sad sālé mordé’ambé gooré khod khāham eestād

So even if I have been dead for a hundred years, I will rise and stand on my own grave is what she’s saying.

And in the context of this poem- what a powerful message. So it’s about rebuilding her homeland, Iran, and it was written 3 years after the revolution. So it was about rebuilding the homeland after this revolution took place, and she lived in Iran until the end of her life. We are currently standing at 47 years after the revolution, and Simin Behbahani died in 2014, so she didn’t get to see the rebuilding of her homeland- we are still in the struggle for freedom for Iran. So these two lines hit me particularly hard, because yes, she is currently through this poem standing on her grave, and these words are coming to us powerfully from her. What a powerful image. So let’s go on and see what is happening on this grave. The next two lines:

ké bardaram ghalbé ahreman

که بردَرَم قلب اهرمن،

So that I can tear apart the devil’s heart

zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

ز نعره‌ی آنچنان خویش

With my loud roaring

so ké bardaram ghalbé ahreman

so ghalb is the word for heart. ghalb

(ghalb)

and we actually have two different words for heart in Persian- ghalb and del. Del means heart in a more emotional sense, and you often hear it in poetry. del

(del)

and ghalb is the word for the organ heart. ghalb

(ghalb)

so the literal heart. ghalb

(ghalb)

and ahreman is the word for the devil. ahreman

(ahreman)

so again we have the e sound, the ezafé- ghalbé ahreman. so the heart of the devil. ghalbé ahreman

(ghalbé ahreman)

so bardāram ghalbé ahreman. in the word bardaram we have the am sound which is the conjugation for the first person. And bardaram means I will tear apart. bardaram

(bardaram)

So bardāram ghalbé ahreman, to tear apart the heart of the devil. bardāram ghalbé ahreman

(bardāram ghalbé ahreman)

and ké means so. ké

(ké)

so ké bardāram ghalbé ahreman means so that I can tear apart the heart of the devil. ké bardāram ghalbé ahreman. Let’s repeat it bit by bit together:

ké bardāram

(ké bardāram)

ghalbé ahreman

(ghalbé ahreman)

Ok, next, zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh- wow, there are a couple of really incredible words in here. So first na'ré. The word na'ré means a loud yell or a roar. na'ré

(na'ré)

And it has that ayne letter in there which is kind of like a stop in pronunciation. na'ré

Great. And ānchenān is a great word that doesn’t really have a translation into English. It means something along the lines of so much. Or great ,or powerful. So again ānchenān

(ānchenān)

so na'réyé ānchenān means such a roar. A powerful roar! na'réyé ānchenān

(na'réyé ānchenān)

and she says na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh. kheesh we’ve covered a couple times. It means self. na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh altogether means the powerful roaring of my self. na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

(na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh)

Ok great, and zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh- again the word zé is actually az which means from. zé

(zé)

and zé na'réyé ānchenāné, from my powerful roar. zé na'réyé ānchenān

zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

(zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh)

Wonderful! Now let’s listen to the entirety of the selection of the poem we’re learning today- hopefully you’ll understand those first four lines, and then we’ll learn the last two together.

agar ché sad sālé mordé'am

اگر چه صد ساله مرده‌ام،

Even if I have been dead for a hundred years

bé gooré khod khāham eestād

به گور خود خواهم ایستاد

I will rise and stand on my own grave

ké bardaram ghalbé ahreman

که بردَرَم قلب اهرمن،

So that I can tear apart the devil’s heart

zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

ز نعره‌ی آنچنان خویش

With my loud roaring

kasee ké “azmé rameem” rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf

کسی که «عظم رمیم» را دوباره انشا کند به لطف

The one who re-writes the “mouldering bones” Through his grace and beneficence

chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh, bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh

چو کوه می‌بخشدم شکوه، به عرصه‌ی امتحان خویش

Will grant me splendor, like a mountain, In the arena of his tests

Ok great! So hopefully you were able to understand those first four lines a bit- and now let’s move on to the last two lines. These two are a bit longer than the other ones we’ve been learning, so let’s dive right in. So first, we have

(kasee ké azmé rameem’ rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf)

So kasee is a person. kasee

(kasee)

and then ké means that. ké

(ké)

and then she says ‘azmé rameem’ in quotes. So azm is the word for bone, and rameem means decaying or mouldering. So azmé rameem means mouldering bones, as Sahba translated it. azmé rameem

(azmé rameem)

so kasee ké azmé rameem- meaning the person who ‘the mouldering bones’- and then in the rest of the sentence she explains- rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf. So let’s start with the easy parts. We’ve had dobāré- it means again. dobāré

(dobāré)

and enshā is the word for to write. enshā

(enshā)

enshā konad is actually the full verb for to write. it’s do a writing literally. enshā konad

(enshā konad)

so dobāré enshā konad is to write again. dobāré enshā konad

(dobāré enshā konad)

So kasee ké azmé rameem rā dobāré enshā konad- so we have that extra rā sound in there, and that sound is something that is called the direct object marker, and the use of it really comes with experience in the Persian language. So it’s used to refer to a noun- and in this case, it’s saying kasee ké azmé rameem rā dobāré enshā konad- so the person that writes again the azmé rameem- in this case rā is showing us that writing again is referring specifically to azmé rameem, or the mouldering bones. So Sahba pointed out in the intro that this line is a little complicated. This is because the mouldering bones, or decaying bones put into quotes is referring to a book, a story, of Jesus, and reviving decaying bones and bringing back to life. So this lines is saying, the person who again writes this book of reviving decaying bones, of things brought to life again and ends it with bé lotf. bé is again to or with. bé

(bé)

and lotf is the word for grace. lotf

(lotf)

so bé lotf means by his grace, or by his kindness. bé lotf

(bé lotf)

So Sahba translated this whole section as The one who re-writes the “mouldering bones”

Through his grace and beneficence

Let’s repeat it together bit by bit.

kasee ké

(kasee ké)

azmé rameem’ rā

(azmé rameem’ rā)

dobāré enshā

(dobāré enshā)

konad bé lotf

(konad bé lotf)

Ok wonderful! Let’s listen to this line and the next together:

kasee ké “azmé rameem” rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf

کسی که «عظم رمیم» را دوباره انشا کند به لطف

The one who re-writes the “mouldering bones” Through his grace and beneficence

chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh, bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh

چو کوه می‌بخشدم شکوه، به عرصه‌ی امتحان خویش

Will grant me splendor, like a mountain, In the arena of his tests

All right! So now chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh- kooh is the word for mountain. kooh

(kooh)

and chō means like. chō

(chō)

and meebakhshadam means will grant me. meebakhshadam

(meebakhshadam)

and finally shokooh means splendor. shokooh

(shokooh)

so chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh means like a mountain it will grant me splendor

What a powerful image. chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh

and then bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh. so emtehān is the word for test. emtehān

(emtehān)

and kheesh means self again. emtehāné kheesh, the test of self

(emtehāné kheesh)

and arsé is the word for arena. arseyé emtehāné kheesh is the arena of the tests of self. arseyé emtehāné kheesh

(arseyé emtehāné kheesh.)

and bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh altogether means in the arena of his tests. bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh. So altoghter chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh, bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh means he will grant me splendor, like a mountain,

In the arena of his tests

So in other words, he who has again written the mouldering bones, through his grace and beneficence, like a mountain Will grant me splendor In the arena of his tests. So it’s all about the strength and the resilience that we have seen through this poem. So let’s repeat this very last line together bit by bit:

chō kooh

(meebakhshadam shokooh)

(, bé arseyé)

(emtehāné kheesh)

I also really love this translation of this section- The resurrector of the ‘ruined bones’ (almight god) will grant me in his bounty. A mountain’s splendor in his testing grounds. A translation by Mohamed Zaki that I found helpful.

This was a bit longer than our other lessons, so hopefully you stuck with it and have understood this last bit. Now let’s listen to the full selection again, as read by my khaleh Farnaz:

agar ché sad sālé mordé'am

اگر چه صد ساله مرده‌ام،

Even if I have been dead for a hundred years

bé gooré khod khāham eestād

به گور خود خواهم ایستاد

I will rise and stand on my own grave

ké bardaram ghalbé ahreman

که بردَرَم قلب اهرمن،

So that I can tear apart the devil’s heart

zé na'réyé ānchenāné kheesh

ز نعره‌ی آنچنان خویش

With my loud roaring

kasee ké “azmé rameem” rā dobāré enshā konad bé lotf

کسی که «عظم رمیم» را دوباره انشا کند به لطف

The one who re-writes the “mouldering bones” Through his grace and beneficence

chō kooh meebakhshadam shokooh, bé arseyé emtehāné kheesh

چو کوه می‌بخشدم شکوه، به عرصه‌ی امتحان خویش

Will grant me splendor, like a mountain, In the arena of his tests

All right, and that’s it for this part of the poem! Thank you again for listening. I’ll be back with the next few lines next week, and until then,

khodahafez from Leyla