In solitude, where Being signless dwelt, And all the Universe still dormant lay [Concealed in selflessness,]1 One Being was Exempt from ‘I-’ or ‘Thou-’ ness, and apart From all duality; Beauty Supreme, Unmanifest, except unto Itself By Its own light, yet fraught with power to charm The souls of all; concealed in the Unseen, An Essence pure, unstained by aught of ill. No mirror to reflect Its loveliness, Nor comb to touch Its locks; the morning breeze Ne’er stirred Its tresses; no collyrium Lent lustre to Its eyes: no rosy cheeks O’ershadowed by dark curls like hyacinth, Nor peach-like down were there; no dusky mole Adorned Its face; no eye had yet beheld Its image. To Itself it sang of love In wordless measures. By Itself it cast The die of love. But Beauty cannot brook Concealment and the veil, nor patient rest Unseen and unadmired: ’twill burst all bonds, And from Its prison-casement to the world Reveal Itself. See where the tulip grows In upland meadows, how in balmy spring It decks itself; and how amidst its thorns The wild rose rends its garment, and reveals Its loveliness. Thou, too, when some rare thought, Or beauteous image, or deep mystery Flashes across thy soul, canst not endure To let it pass, but hold’st it, that perchance In speech or writing thou may’st send it forth To charm the world. Wherever Beauty dwells Such is its nature, and its heritage From Everlasting Beauty, which emerged From realms of purity to shine upon The worlds, and all the souls which dwell therein. One gleam fell from It on the Universe, And on the angels, and this single ray Dazzled the angels, till their senses whirled Like the revolving sky. In divers forms Each mirror showed It forth, and everywhere Its praise was chanted in new harmonies.2 Each speck of matter did He constitute A mirror, causing each one to reflect The beauty of His visage. From the rose Flashed forth His beauty, and the nightingale Beholding it, loved madly. From that Light [The candle drew]3 the lustre which beguiles The moth to immolation. On the sun His Beauty shone, and straightway from the wave The lotus reared its head. Each shining lock Of Leylā’s hair attracted Majnūn’s heart Because some ray divine reflected shone In her fair face. ’Twas He to Shīrīn’s lips Who lent that sweetness which had power to steal The heart from Parvīz, and from Ferhād life. His Beauty everywhere doth show itself, And through the forms of earthly beauties shines Obscured as through a veil. He did reveal His face through Joseph’s coat, and so destroyed Zuleykhā’s peace. Where’er thou seest a veil, Beneath that veil He hides. Whatever heart Doth yield to love, He charms it. In His love The heart hath life. Longing for Him, the soul Hath victory. That heart which seems to love The fair ones of this world, loves Him alone. Beware! say not, ‘He is All-Beautiful, And we His lovers.’ Thou art but the glass, And He the Face confronting it, which casts Its image on the mirror. He alone Is manifest, and thou in truth art hid. Pure Love, like Beauty, coming but from Him, Reveals itself in thee. If steadfastly Thou canst regard, thou wilt at length perceive He is the mirror also — He alike The Treasure and the Casket. ‘I,’ and ‘Thou’ Have here no place, and are but phantasies Vain and unreal. Silence! for this tale Is endless, and no eloquence hath power To speak of Him. ’Tis best for us to love, And suffer silently, being as naught.
Symphony [no. 2], “Jāmī”
Symphony by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988)
In solitude, where Being signless dwelt
Authorship:
- by Edward Browne (1862 - 1926), no title, appears in A Year amongst the Persians: Impressions as to the Life, Character, & Thought of the People of Persia Received during Twelve Months’ Residence in That Country in the Years 1887-1888, London, Adam and Charles Black, first published 1893 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami (1414 - 1492), appears in Yūsuf u Zulaykhā, Excerpt [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Set by by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988), KSS 72 (1942-51) [ orchestra, chorus, and baritone ]View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Edward Browne, A Year amongst the Persians: Impressions as to the Life, Character, & Thought of the People of Persia Received during Twelve Months' Residence in That Country in the Years 1887-1888, London, Adam and Charles Black, 1893, pages 137-139. Note: This is an excerpt from the eleventh section of the poem. It is unknown if Browne wrote a complete translation of Yūsuf u Zulaykhā or if this is the only excerpt he translated.
1 omitted by A. Hinton.2 Some additional lines appear in a reprinted translation published in The Persian Mystics by F. Hadland Davis, but not in A Year amongst the Persians. They were not set to music by K. Sorabji, and they are as follows:
The Cherubim, enraptured, sought for songs Of praise. The spirits who explore the depths Of boundless seas, wherein the heavens swim Like some small boat, cried with one mighty voice, “Praise to the Lord of all the universe!”3 omitted by K. Sorabji.
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