Graveyard
By Sharafaddin Khorasani
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
This sleep forever drained of consciousness,
this consciousness eternally asleep,
this pit of bones and boulders keeps a silence
even the moons abodes could never keep.
It is a snowfall settled on a roof
covering an abandoned cabin's floor.
The cage there has released an air-bound message
whose ravened beak now pecks against the door.
Through radiance of the noonday's candlelight
sleep, ponderous as a boulder, holds it pent
though you could swear you heard eternity
playing the silence like an instrument.
In the hushed waste of sand and salt out there
the lightning comes with a mirage's sign.
Is it the mere light of the moon and sea
or slumber's Houris, bright with the divine?
Our house's musk-sweet, wine-bright torch is out,
leaving mere smoke on walls it once possessed;
The sleek and gorgeous leopard is away,
leaving a lost sigh in the forest's breast.
Sprouts sow themselves and germinate in thirst
beneath the parched crust of this brackish ground;
The bosom of this slumberous sphere now lies
around the spent ash of a world of sound.
Arise! For now these regions of the dark
lie in the gyre of the morning breeze.
The reckless ship is scuttled in the narrows,
tired and retired now from the stir of seas.
The Original:
By Sharafaddin Khorasani
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
This sleep forever drained of consciousness,
this consciousness eternally asleep,
this pit of bones and boulders keeps a silence
even the moons abodes could never keep.
It is a snowfall settled on a roof
covering an abandoned cabin's floor.
The cage there has released an air-bound message
whose ravened beak now pecks against the door.
Through radiance of the noonday's candlelight
sleep, ponderous as a boulder, holds it pent
though you could swear you heard eternity
playing the silence like an instrument.
In the hushed waste of sand and salt out there
the lightning comes with a mirage's sign.
Is it the mere light of the moon and sea
or slumber's Houris, bright with the divine?
Our house's musk-sweet, wine-bright torch is out,
leaving mere smoke on walls it once possessed;
The sleek and gorgeous leopard is away,
leaving a lost sigh in the forest's breast.
Sprouts sow themselves and germinate in thirst
beneath the parched crust of this brackish ground;
The bosom of this slumberous sphere now lies
around the spent ash of a world of sound.
Arise! For now these regions of the dark
lie in the gyre of the morning breeze.
The reckless ship is scuttled in the narrows,
tired and retired now from the stir of seas.
The Original:
قبرستان
شرف الدين خراسانى
خوابيست كه مانده خالى از هوش
هوشيست كه رفته جاودان خواب
چاهيست پر استخوان و پر سنگ
خاموشتر از ديار مهتاب
برفيست فرونشسته بر بام
وان بام ز كلبه ايست متروك
آنجا ز قفس پريده پيغام
مرغيست كه ميزند بر ان نوك
در پرتو شمع نيمروزى
خوابيش گران گرفته چون سنگ
از كاسۀ ان سكوت جاويد
گوئى شنوى هنوز اهنگ
ان سوى در اين كوير خاموش
برقى و نشانى از سرابست
يا پرتو ماهتاب و درياست
يا جلوۀ حوريان خوابست
زان مشعل مشكبوى ميفام
در خانۀ ما نمانده جز دود
زان ماده پلنگ خوش خط و خال
اهيست درون بيشه مفقود
هر گوشه از اين كوير بى اب
بس ريشۀ تشنه خيز و خودروست
در سينۀ اين سپهر پرخواب
خاكستر يك جهان هياهوست
برخيز! كه باد بامدادى
پيچيده در اين فضاى تاريك
وان زورق خستۀ بى ارام
افتاده در اين خليج باريك
شرف الدين خراسانى
خوابيست كه مانده خالى از هوش
هوشيست كه رفته جاودان خواب
چاهيست پر استخوان و پر سنگ
خاموشتر از ديار مهتاب
برفيست فرونشسته بر بام
وان بام ز كلبه ايست متروك
آنجا ز قفس پريده پيغام
مرغيست كه ميزند بر ان نوك
در پرتو شمع نيمروزى
خوابيش گران گرفته چون سنگ
از كاسۀ ان سكوت جاويد
گوئى شنوى هنوز اهنگ
ان سوى در اين كوير خاموش
برقى و نشانى از سرابست
يا پرتو ماهتاب و درياست
يا جلوۀ حوريان خوابست
زان مشعل مشكبوى ميفام
در خانۀ ما نمانده جز دود
زان ماده پلنگ خوش خط و خال
اهيست درون بيشه مفقود
هر گوشه از اين كوير بى اب
بس ريشۀ تشنه خيز و خودروست
در سينۀ اين سپهر پرخواب
خاكستر يك جهان هياهوست
برخيز! كه باد بامدادى
پيچيده در اين فضاى تاريك
وان زورق خستۀ بى ارام
افتاده در اين خليج باريك
Posts
Thank you for posting this translation which for me has been an delightful introduction to Sharaf. Perhaps we could have the original Persian recitation at some stage?
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