اَز داسْتانهای مَثْنَویِ مَولَوی جَلال الْدين رومی
مَگَسِ کِشْتيبان
| 2 کو هَمی پِنْداشْت خُود را هَسْت کَس | 1 مانَد اَحْوالَت بِدان طُرْفَه مَگَس |
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ku ha mi pen | dāsh TO khod rā | has TO kas |
mā na dah vā | lat be dān tur | fe ma gas |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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who always thought itself to be somebody |
your condition resembles that wonder of a fly |
| 4 ذَرَه اِی خُود را شِمُرْدَه آفْتاب | 3 اَز خُودی سَر مَسْت گَشْتی بی شَراب |
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za re i khod | rā she mor de | ā FO tāb |
az kho di sar | mas TO gash ti | bi sha rāb |
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S S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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a [mere] particle it reckoned itself to be the sun |
out of (losing) itself, it became drunk without drink |
| 6 گُفْتَه مَن عَنْقای وَقْتَم بی گُمان | 5 وَصْفِ بازان را شِنيدَه دَر زَمان |
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gof te man `an | qā ye vaq tam | be go mān |
vas fe bā zān | rā she ni de | dar za mān |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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it said, I'm the Phoenix of the Times, no doubt [about it] |
it heard the description of the falcons and then |
| 8 هَمْچُو کِشْتيبان هَمی اَفْراشْت سَر | 7 آن مَگَس بَر بَرْگِ کاه و بَولِ خَر |
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ham cho kesh ti | bān ha mi af | rāsh TO sar |
ān ma gas bar | bar ge kā ho | baw le khar |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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like a boat-captain always raised up [his] head |
that fly on a leaf of straw and urine of donkey |
| 10 مُدَّتی دَر فِکْرِ آن می مانْدَه اَم | 9 گُفْت مَن کِشْتی و دَرْيا خوانْدَه اَم |
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mod da ti dar | fek re ān mi | man de am |
gof TO man kesh | ti o dar yā | khān de am |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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for a while I've remained thinking about them |
he said I have called boat and sea |
| 12 مَرْدِ کِشْتيبان و اَهْل و رأی زَن | 11 اِينَک اِين دَرْيا و اِين کِشْتی و مَن |
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mar de kesh ti | bā no ah lo | rā i zan |
i na kin dar | yā o in kesh | ti o man |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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helmsman and skilled and judicious |
behold this sea and this boat and me |
| 14 می نَمودَش اِينْقَدَر بيرون زِ حَدّ | 13 بَر سَرِ دَرْيا هَمی رانْد اُو عَمَد |
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mi ne mu dash | in qa dar bi | run ze had |
bar sa re dar | yā ha mi rān | du `a mad |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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this amount appeared to him without limit |
on the surface of the sea he kept steering the raft |
| 16 آن نَظَر کِه بينَد آن را راسْت کو | 15 بود بی حَدّ آن چَمين نِسْبَت بِدو |
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ān na zar ke | bi na dān rā |ras TO ku |
bu DO bi had | dān cha min nas | bat be du |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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that vision that he should see it correctly [was] where |
without bound was that excrement in relation to him |
| 18 وَهْمِ اُو بَولِ خَر و تَصْويرِ خَس | 17 صاحِبِ تأويلِ باطِل چُون مَگَس |
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vah me u baw | le kha ro tas |vi re khas |
sā he be ta | vi le bā tel | chon ma gas |
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L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
L S L L | L S L L | L S L |
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his thinking [is] donkey piss and his imagination straw |
one with idle commentary [is] like the fly |
Listen to this poem read in two different styles: |
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#1 The way it's supposed to be read.Hope you'll enjoy and try to imitate...Notice it is not necessary to pause between feet or stichs and the emphasis is on word stress rather than syllable length. |
#2 Read according to the meter.This style is provided only to show you the "behind-the-scenes" mechanics. Poetry is never actually recited this way so don't try this in public! The trick is to always be conscious of the meter but make it look like you're not! Listen to this style many, many times until it's in your blood, then throw it in the garbage and try to emulate the correct style to your left (#1) |
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Listen |
Listen |
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Here is Nicholson's translation of this story. |
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Pattern of meter :--> Long Short Long Long | Long Short Long Long | Long Short (Extra)LongThis metrical pattern is called the "ramal musaddas", and is the meter used in mystical masnavi's. Rumi's Masnavi is a good place to practice learning meter because there are so many couplets, translations are available and you know in advance what the meter is. The very word "masnavi" means "couplet" (same root as /sānian/ "2nd) and both hemistichs of a couplet have the same rhyme in this pattern: AA, BB, CC, DD, ... L(ong) is a long syllable, S(hort) is a short syllable and E(xtra)L(ong) is a syllable, usually restricted to the last foot, containing a consonant cluster. A long syllable may contain a consonant + short vowel + consonant OR consonant + long vowel. A short syllable contains a consonant + short vowel. In the older stages of the Persian language, long vowels really were pronounced with a longer duration and short vowels a little shorter, however, this distinction has been lost in the modern language. Today, only a master poetry reader can produce this effect. |
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| Meter (وَزْن ): It is essential to first figure out the meter of a poem before attempting to understand the meaning. This is how you can tell, among other things, where the ezāfe's go and how you can distinguish words whose meaning depends on a tashdid (for example serr ("secret") and sar ("head"). | |||
| Procedure: | |||
| First, mark off the long vowls: ā, i, u, and long diphthongs: ay, aw (but careful if they are followed by a suffix) | |||
| Then, mark off the short vowles: a, e, o | |||
| When you see the pattern, deal with vowels which can be either long or short: | |||
| final "he" unpronounced "he" | |||
| word-final u/o (including the "vāv" meaning "and" in poetry always pronounced (v)o) | |||
| ezāfe's | |||
| any other word-final short vowels | |||
| /i/ + vowel (especially /iyā/) | |||
| tashdid's and hamze's are sometimes made use of and sometimes ignored. | |||
| two Short syllables may be counted as one Long syllable | |||
| The first syllable of a foot may (in certain meters) be short, even if the meter calls for it to be long. | |||
| It takes some juggling to figure out where one syllable ends and the next begins. Learn to ignore spelling--syllabic units transcend word boundaries. | |||
| If you find you have 2 consonants, one-after-another (except "nun" + consonant), you need to break them up by adding a short vowel. However, in the last "foot" or section of the verse, it is ok to have a consonant cluster and that syllable is called "ExtraLong" | |||
| Hacking up the words of a poem to bits and pieces like this is called تَقْطيع /taqti`/ "cutting" in Persian. In English it is called scanning. MORE! | |||
References:Bang-e Nay (page 27)Nicholson (volume 1, pages 67-68) |
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