Fire in the Reeds
By Majzoob Tabrizi
Translated from the Persian by Bänoo Zan
One night, fire fell into a reed bed
It burned like love falling onto a soul
As fire’s head warmed to its work
every reed turned into a candle at its own grave
Reed said to fire, What is this tumult?
What do you mean by this burning?
Fire said, It is not without reason that I flared up
I burned down your meaningless claim
For you said, I am the reed, with a hundred displays
You were as bound to yourself as to being
Making this claim—you cheap alloy—
why do you sprout leaves every spring?
It is becoming to feel pain—
fire cures the pain of feeling no pain
یک شب آتش در نیستانی فتاد
سوخت چون عشقی که بر جانی فتاد
شعله تا سرگرم کار خویش شد
هر نی ای شمع مزار خویش شد
نی به آتش گفت: کاین آشوب چیست؟
مر تو را زین سوختن مطلوب چیست؟
گفت آتش بی سبب نفروختم
دعوی بی معنی ات را سوختم
زانکه می گفتی نی ام با صد نمود
همچنان در بند خود بودی که بود
با چنین دعوی چرا ای کم عیار
برگ خود می ساختی هر نوبهار
مرد را دردی اگر باشد خوش است
درد بی دردی علاجش آتش است
Translator’s note: Traditionally, ghazal, the poetic form in which Majzoob wrote, does not have a title. So, the Persian version has no title, while in English I have chosen a title for the poem.
Translator
Bänoo Zan is a poet, librettist, translator, teacher, editor, and poetry curator, with more than 200 published poems and poetry-related pieces as well as three books, including “Songs of Exile” and “Letters to My Father.” She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series.
Author
Mohammad Majzoob Tabrizi was a seventeenth century Sufi poet and mystic from Tabriz. He was a Shiite scholar and wrote an exegetic work on Kaafi Principles (a book about beliefs, lives, and sayings of Shiite Imams and saints and one of the most important sources about Shiism). There is not much known about his life, and there is even disagreement about his titles or given names. In his poetic style, he was the follower of Hafez. Majzoob was his pen name or Takhallus.