hazhdah hezar alam-e eysh o morad arze shod joz be jamal-e to nabud jushesh o ra'y-e nafs-e ma dowzakh ja-ye kaferan, jannat ja-ye mo'menan eshq bara-ye asheqan, mahv saza-ye nafs-e ma asl-e haqiqat vafa serr-e kholase reza khaje-ye ruh shams-e din bud safa-ye nafs-e ma dar evaz-e abir-e jan dar badan hezar sang az tabriz khak ra kohl-e ziya-ye nafs-e ma
Eighteen thousand worlds of pleasure and desire were laid before us; yet our self stirred and wished for nothing but your beauty. Hell is the place of unbelievers, Paradise the place of believers; love is for the lovers, and to be erased is what our self deserves. Root of truth and faithfulness, secret and essence of contentment: the master of the spirit, Shams-e Din, was the purity of our self. Instead of the soul's perfume, a thousand stones in the body; from Tabriz, the dust is the kohl that brightens the light of our self.
This is from the Divan-e Shams, Rumi's collection of lyric poems, and here Shams of Tabriz, the wandering teacher it is named after, is named directly ('Shams-e Din'). 'Eighteen thousand worlds' is a traditional Islamic expression for the whole of creation; the poet says all of it was offered and he wanted only the beloved. Every couplet ends with nafs-e ma, 'our self': in Sufi language nafs is the ego or lower self, and its best fate is mahv, being erased in love, which the poem sets beside the familiar Hell and Paradise as a third destination. The last line treats even the dust of Shams's city, Tabriz, as kohl for the eyes, a common image of devotion to a beloved's homeland.
Persian word, how to say it, and what it means in your language.
Sounds likealam
Meaningworld
Sounds likedowzakh
Meaninghell
Sounds likemahv
Meaningeffacement, being erased
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