Translating Fakhru'd-Dîn Ibrâhîm

Translating Save Love of You by Irâqî

More on the nature of Persian poetry: word play. Fakhru'd-Dîn Ibrâhîm, better known as Irâqî, was born in Hamadan (Persia) but was drawn by a young dervish to Multân in India, where he became a devotee of Shaykh Bahâ'u'd-Dîn Zakariyyâ, in time marrying the master's daughter. At the Shayk's death, twenty-five years later, Irâqî travelled to Mecca, Turkey and Egypt, and finally to Syria, where he died, in Damascus, in 688/1289, being buried in the Sâlihiyya Cemetery beside the great mystic Shaykh Muhiyyu'd-Din ibn'l-'Arabî. {1} Irâqî was a noted Sufi, and E.G. Browne's translation brings this out well: {2}

1. Save love of thee a soul in me I cannot see, I cannot see,
          An object for my love save thee I cannot see, I cannot see.

2. Repose or patience in my mind I cannot find, I cannot find,
          While gracious glance or friendship free I cannot see, I cannot see.

3. Show in thy face some sign of grace, since for the pain wherewith I'm slain
          Except thy face a remedy I cannot see, I cannot see.

4. If thou wouldst see me, speed thy feet, for parted from thy presence sweet,
          Continue life on earth for me I cannot see, I cannot see.

5. O friend, stretch out a hand to save, for I am fallen in a wave
          Of which the crest, if crest there be, I cannot see, I cannot see.

6. With gracious care and kindly air come hither and my state repair;
          A better state, apart from thee, I cannot see, I cannot see.

7. Some pathway to 'Iraqî teach whereby that pathway he may reach,
          For vagrant so bemused as he I cannot see, I cannot see.

Word For Word Rendering

A little old-fashioned now, but none the worse for that. To see how close is Browne's rendering, we start by looking at the Farsi:

Verse Structure

A word-for-word rendering:

1a. marâ	juz	'ishq	tû	jânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
me (Acc) of/to me	besides except save	love intensity of passion	thou	soul, cordially loved	not	I see	not	I see

1b. dâmrâ	juz	tû	jânânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
snare worldly illusions (Acc)	besides except save	thou	of souls	not	I see	not	I see

2a. bakhvad	sabrî	u	ârâmî	namî	yâbam	namî	yâbam
to/with/by oneself	patience	and	peace calmness repose	not	I find	not	I find
							1524
2b. z	tû	itghî	u	ihsâni	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
from	thou you	seduction error excessive	and	benefit favour	not	I see	not	I see

3a. z	rûy	binamâ	rûy	ki	dardîra	ki	man	dâram
from of for with by	face appearance	show	face appearance expectation	who what while whereas	pain (Acc)	who what while whereas	I	have

3b. bajuz	rûy	tû	darmânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
besides except save	face appearance expectation	thou you	medicine remedy	not	I see	not	I see

4a. bî âgar	khwâhîm	dîdan	ki	dûr	az	rûy	khûb	tû
not if although	we want	to see	who what while whereas	remote far from	from	face appearance expectation	good beautiful firm	thou you

4b. baqâ'î	kwêsh	chandâne	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
immortality eternity of	one's self	of any amount	not	I see	not	I see

5a. bagîr	az	yâr	dast	man	ki	dar	gird-âb / gurd-âb	uftâdam
seize	from	friend	hand	I	who what while whereas	in	whirlpool wave	I fall

5b. ki	ânrâ	hech	pâyâni	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
who what while whereas	him that to him to that	nothing never lost	of end limit	not	I see	not	I see

6a. z	rûy	itfa	u	dâdâri	biyâ	sâmân	kârman	kon
from	face appearance expectation	extinguish	and	distribution of justice	come	set in order belongings	my work	(make: kardan)

6b. ki	khwadra	bî	tû	sâmânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
who what while whereas	self (objective)	without	thou you	heavenly	not	I see	not	I see

7a. irâqîra	badr gâhat	rahî	benamâ	ki	dar	âlam
. irâqî (objective)	without pathway	traveller	show	who what while whereas	in	world universe

7b.chû	û	sar-gashta	hairânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
when in same manner since	he	perplexed	confusion	not	I see	not	I see

After drawing up the usual metre table to identify any izâfa, we get:

1. Of me except a love of you a soul not I see not I see.
          Except a love of you a snare of souls (not) I see, (not) I see.

2. With myself a patience and a repose not I find, not I find.
          From you excess and favour not I see not I see.

3. By face show appearance what pain what I have
          Except face of you remedy not I see not I see.

4. Although we want to see who far from face of good of you
          Of immortality of one's self any amount not I see not I see.

5. Seize from friend hand I who in whirlpool fall
          Who to that nothing of limit not I see not I see.

6. From face extinguish and justice-distribution come set in order my work
          What self without you heavenly not I see not I see.

7a. Irâqî without pathway traveller show who in world
          When he perplexed confusion not I see not I see.

A problematic phrase, used repeatedly, is nummî bînam. Literally, it could be translated as anyone I see, only the prefix bî commonly indicates un- or without, so that the phrase carries overtones of uncertainty or not seeing properly. Browne's I do not see is therefore a very acceptable rendering, though rather stark and biblical where the Persian is deeper-textured and more ambivalent. A rendering in more contemporary English might be:

Except in love of you, a soul I cannot see or see.
          And love as snare for souls that I must see, must see.

Repose or patience in myself I do not find or find.
          But through excessive favour that I see and see.

Show kindly to me in your face what pain must be:
          No remedy beyond that face I see or see.

Far off, how distant is the goodness of that face:
          In me no immortality I see or see.

Clutch at this hand, my friend, lest in the whirlpool fall
          A one who only nothingness can see and see.

Come, set face to justice, put my work in place:
          No self without that heaven can I see or see.

Irâqî, without your guidance, in this world must travel:
          Perplexed continually, who does not see or see.

Rhetoric

I've tried not to overdo the internal rhyme, but the original does show much repetition of letter groups. Why do we have such excessive assonance as:

2a. bakhvad	sabrî	u/va	ârâmî	namî	yâbam	namî	yâbam
with oneself	patience	and	repose	not	I find	not	I find

and:

3b. bajuz	rûy	tû	darmânî	namî	bînam	namî	bînam
except	face	you	remedy	not	I see	not	I see

Firstly, some of the internal rhyme is intended, was indeed admired, being called tarsî or tashtîr Secondly, the repetition (takrâ or anaphora of I do not see, I do not see, acts as a refrain, giving the poem structure and emphasis, although there is an expectation that the meaning should shift slightly if the words stay the same, or vice versa. {8} I have varied the translation a little for this reason. Thirdly comes decoration for its own sake. As Arthur Upham Pope notes in his Persian Architecture: "All the arts of Persia are closely interrelated and all express a common cultural inspiration. The great Islamic art of calligraphy, with its standards of rhythm, precision and expressive form, instructs and discipline other arts. Poetry, universal and indispensable in Persian life, together with philosophy, overt and implicit, nourish all cultural expressions. Analogies between Persian poetry and visual design are numerous: rhythm and rhyme, stress and resolution, surprise and fulfillment head a long list of characteristics." {9}

All are part of a rhetoric refined over centuries and far too complicated to summarize here. {10} {11} For the purposes of these short Persian translations, we might look at just two matters: imagery and what is called tajnîs, small changes in sound or letters to produce dissimilar meanings.Imagery is found in all poetry, and the light is a stock image in the western tradition (light of His countenance, etc.) and in this Irâqî poem we have the whirlpool and beloved's face, both carrying mystical overtones but needing no explanation.

References

1. E.G. Browne, Literary History of Persia (Munshiram Manoharlal, 1902-24/1997), III, 124-139.
2. Browne 1997, III, 131-2.
3. Annemarie Schimmel, A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry (Chapel Hill: Univ. North Carolina Press. 1992). Much useful material from a noted Sufi scholar.
4. Online English - Persian Dictionary. Input as transcribed English letters: larger database. Columbia.edu. NNA Dictionary
5. Digital Dictionaries of South Asia. Steingass online: includes literary Persian and common Arabic words: fascinating but more cumbersome to use.
6. A.K.S. Lambton, Persian Grammar Including Key (CUP, 1953, 1979)
7. F. Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary: Being Johnson and Richardson's Persian, Arabic and English dictionary. Revised, enlarged and entirely reconstructed by F. Steingass (Asian Educational Services, 2003 )
8. Julie Scott Meisami, Structure and Meaning in Medieval Arabic and Persian Poetry: Orient Pearls (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 285.
9. Arthur Upham Pope, Persian Architecture: The Triumph of Form and Color (George Braziller, 1965), 133.
10. Browne 1997, II, 46-89.
11. Meisami 2003, 244-403.
12. Meisami 2003, 418-430.