Saturday, March 21, 2009

Baba Tahor Poem translated by Dr. Mehdi Nokhosteen

Original Persian:

ز دست دیده و دل هر دو فریاد

که هرچه دیده وینه دل کنه یاد

بسازم خنجری نیشش ز پولاد

زنم بردیده تا دل گرده آزاد


Translation:

Beneath the tyranny of eyes and heart I cry,

For, all the eyes see, the heart stores up:

I'll fashin me a pointed sword of steel,

Put out mine eyes, and so set free my heart

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The importance of poetry

I often think that poetry is of great importance among the subjects that humans have developed throughout their existence. In moments of despair, poetry offers comfort through the thoughts of the great masters, like Juan Ramon Jimenez, Khayyam, Basho, Baba Tahir, and the Galician Curros Enriquez.

It is usually very difficult to explain why life is the way it is, and even scientists have a hard time getting at the core of things, and their reality. Sometimes our rich array of human feelings does a great job describing reality. Indeed, the description of reality that poetry offers shows that reality can sometimes be more beautiful than fantasy. Allow me to share with you a quatrain from Omar Khayyam:

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.

~from the quatrains of Omar Khayyam

When sadness, happiness, beauty of though, and verbal beauty come together, poetry is produced. Poetry is much as an accomplishment for society as mathematics and engineering are.