Fahlaviyat

The child named Azar sets fire to my heart; her eyes are like two whole worlds to me. Her love, this endless child, has swept me away; over the years and years, it never fades.

If I reach the sea, in the sea I see you; if I reach the desert, in the desert I see you. There is nothing else in this world but you; so wherever I go, everywhere I see you.

At dawn, when my heart takes fire like a burning pan, the seven heavens catch flame from my sighs. My heart lets out a sigh of fire so fierce that from its heat the very sun itself grows hot.

At dawn, when my eyes fill up with tears, the rising mist drinks its moisture from my weeping eyes. I rain down such bloody tears from my eyes that the whole world turns crimson with blood.

From this comes my loss of order and peace, from this comes the wound in my heart and soul. Since I gave my heart to my beloved, I have wandered lost, day and night, from this my lips are always trembling and restless.

My heart weeps for her the way I weep for my home; like me, it mourns for the land and the fields and the meadow. In all my land and country I see nothing but her; my whole homeland weeps only for her.

That sun with its sweet yellow glow shone over field and thicket, while I set my snare, hoping to hunt. Suddenly I fell into that very trap myself, and the snare, the traps, and all my gear slipped from my mind.

Whatever they say, listen to your heart; and never let the words of your heart slip from your mind. The world could not take my heart, for my heart is young; youth never fades, though the world grows old.

There is no field or grassland in the world, no mountain or meadow, no sown crop or fallow ground. For I have laid the seed of that meadow myself, and I myself have made the mountain valleys my home.

Come, work hard in your own lane; be your own person. Otherwise all this thinking and worrying is wasted. You who feel regret, you hold to a faith, a creed; let go of that old creed, for this is the true one.

Wake your heart from its own sleep; keep chasing the work and craft that once was yours. Hold on to whatever calling you have and practice it; stay true to these customs, for such was the way before you.

The world was not yet here, nor mountain, nor plain; no one to sow, no field to name. Then a seed took hold and gave the land its shape, and color sprang from the heart, and hues blossomed into being.

The dead lie fallen; hear the news of them, like wood cut down and laid low, above and below. Whoever stays alive will keep on living; you will not die until you are ruined and worn away.

A familiar pain has settled in my heart; what pain it is that has taken hold of my heart. Night and day I carry the thread of longing in my head; how long will this passion keep me its captive?

When the world had not yet risen from nothingness into being, my soul and heart were already drunk with love, like this. There was no name or trace of soul and heart, and yet my soul was making its vow with the beloved. In that pact the beloved sealed with me, I have never broken a single one of those promises. There was no hand or garment in all the world that my hand did not reach out to grasp its hem. It was the beloved who first bound my soul, not I who tied myself to any other. Love from the loving ones was always sweet; go on, no loving heart was ever truly broken! Our bond was not made only today, nor did my heart break free of both worlds only today. My heart cut itself off from the crowd on that ancient day, yet on that same day my soul was joined to yours. Like my own self, that day my western part rose up, while the soul settled quietly with itself for a moment.