Number 8

Number 8

Iraqi style

English

I said: My love, will you come back to my door? She said: Sweetheart, so you are returning. I said: I am your poor, helpless lover. She said: Well, you seem worthy enough to me. I said: You have carelessly stolen me from myself. She laughed and said: You keep insisting on your complaints. I said: Show me your face. She said coyly: So even this beggar has a longing for it. Word came that I am strangely in love. I said: Go on loving, you love so beautifully. Qasem sees your face everywhere he looks. And it is no wonder that it should be everywhere.

Explanation: The poem uses a dialect (likely Fahlaviyat or a local Persian dialect), so some lines are uncertain. The final couplet plays on the beloved's face being 'everywhere' as a sign of divine or universal beauty.

Original · Persian

شمارهٔ ۸

گفتم: ای جان، ز درم باز آیی گفت: دلدار که می بازایی

گفتمش: عاشق مسکین توام گفت: خا دانه وزم بین شایی

گفتمش: خیره مراجی خودی خنده زد گفت: لجورستایی

گفتمش: رو بنما، گفت بناز: کین گدا را بین هوس باشایی

خبر آمو که عجب لاوم من گفتمش: لاوه بکن، خوش لایی

همه جای روی تو بیند قاسم وس عجب نی که ببو هرجایی