Mostly translations of poems in an effort to improve my english and share some poetry that I like. I don't necessarily agree with some of the things the poets are saying but I'll translate them as they are. I'm not very good at this so you've been warned.
Oskol kardan (making someone oskol): making someone look like a fool (this is usually light hearted, like if someone wastes your time by telling you it will be your turn soon and you end up waiting for 2 hours or tells you long paragraphs of information only to follow it up with never-mind I was wrong).
Oskol shodam (I became oskol): used in the same way as oskol kardan only used about yourself instead of the person who made you oskol, can also be used to mean you wasted your own time, made yourself look stupid.
Sare kar gozashtan (putting someone to work): similar to Oskol kardan but more if someone purposefully tries to make you look stupid or fool you waste your time (like if they stand you up or give you meaningless work to do so you don’t bother them). This and oskol kardan are usually interchangeable.
Kar az Kar gozashte (work has gone past work): Things are passed the point of being fixable, consequences are now unpreventable.
Atish biyare mareke (person who brings fire into the war): person who fuels drama.
Tokhmeh shekastan (poping seeds): gossiping.
Sabzi pak kardan (cleaning herbs): gossiping.
Bikhiyal (no thoughts): don’t think about it, let it go.
Sabok (light): it means you lack the weight of both your brain and your dignity.
Haji (literally means person whose gone on pilgrimage to Macca, in a more formal setting it’s used as a form of respect): it’s used like mate/bro and it’s also used ironically (you use a respectful term to say that you’re actually not respectable/you’re an idiot). This is a type of slang that’s considered a bit low class because it was first used like this by Jaahel bazaris. The normal use is still there as well and it’s also used as a respectful way of addressing an older man in an informal setting like corner-store workers. Haaj agha is a more formal/respectful way of saying the genuine version of it.
Aamu (not exactly uncle but it comes from the word Amu which means uncle): Something like mate/bruv/bro.
Pichundan (to twist): getting out of doing something/going somewhere, tricking someone, standing someone up, purposefully trying to not include someone in something by not telling them, lying to them or refusing to give a straight answer. Beating around the bush in order to stop someone from finding something out.
Be rokh keshidan (dragging on someone’s face): bragging in an “I’m better than you” way. Flaunting in a condescending way.
Be ru ovordan (bringing something in front of someones face): When someone does something wrong and you don’t ignore it and let them know that you noticed. Usually when someone has wronged you but can also be used for other types of mistakes like if they keep missing deadlines or something.
Por ru (full of face): Someone who thinks they have more rights than others/are more important than others. Someone disrespectful and self-important.
Ru kam kardan (lessening someone’s face): humbling someone.
Mennat gozashtan: When someone holds something over your head. When someone does something nice but then they keep bringing it up and acting like you owe them.
Chatrbaaz (parachuter): someone who actively looks for free stuff.
Tablo (billboard, a big picture): really obvious.
Khaali bandi (tying empty): to lie or bluff.
Del tu del nabud (no heart in heart): being restless, anxious or excited (like when you’re really missing someone or being really excited to buy the latest thing that you’ve been looking forward to).
Gaav (cow): someone who pays no attention to basic etiquette in a way that inconveniences others like walking in the middle of the side way slowly and not letting people pass or driving terribly.
Khar (donkey): idiot (this can be offensive unlike oskol which is a more light version).
Olagh (donkey): a more severe way of calling someone an idiot (for when you’re really mad and don’t care about manners anymore).
Sag (dog): it means rabid, someone who has anger issues and is constantly snapping at people or someone who is perpetually in a bad mood, frowning and rude.
Nafahm (non-understanding): someone who doesn’t understand human language (in an insulting way, not in a literal sense, so don’t call someone who genuinely has trouble with language this).
Javgir shodan (the atmosphere has caught them): getting carried away, overdoing something because you’re too into it.
Khaz (the literal meaning is fur): lame, embarrassing or cringy.
Palang (leopard): Either a very fake type of beauty that’s kind of scary to some and attractive to others or a very specific type of look that’s mostly rooted in instagram trends (lipstick sticking out of the lines or overdone botox, badly dyed blond hair, wearing leopard prints, fake tan, lots of plastic surgery and overdone and headache inducing cologne, I know this description sounds insulting but palang is more of a descriptor and some use it as and insult while others just use it to describe someone’s aesthetic).
Ba namak (salty): funny/lovable.
Keshesh nadaram (I have no more pull): I don’t have the energy for this or I’m really exhausted and can’t go on/continue anymore.
Keshesh nade (don’t drag it): don’t take so long, don’t drag it on and finish it.
Fes fes: talking your time in an annoying way.
Darideh (brazen/impudent, literally means torn): Someone who attacks everyone over the most minor things or for no reason at all and is rude and disrespectful to everyone, including those who do not deserve disrespect.
Zer nazan/chert nagu (don’t say zer): don’t say nonsense or shut up.
Tu ruhet (in your soul): it can be insulting or playful. It doesn’t mean this but the only english expression I could think of that’s used in the same way is “you’re an idiot”. It’s something we say when someone does or says something silly in an endearing way (the playful type) or when they mess up and it’s not endearing (the angry type).
Faazet chie (what is your state): what exactly are you trying to achieve? or what’s your problem? (it’s a question that people usually ask when they’re angry, it usually implies that you have a nefarious purpose or there’s something wrong with you).
Sar be saram nazar (don’t put a head over my head): don’t play with me (like a prank or something like that but can also be when someone is annoying you with something unimportant while you’re trying to get work done, this is light and often sounds a bit annoyed and a bit desperate).
Ru asaabam naro (don’t step on my nerves): don’t annoy me.
Asaab nadaram (I have no nerves): I have no patience or tolerance. I will snap at you if you annoy me.
ای بی وفا ، راز دل بشنو ، از خموشی من ، این سکوت مرا ناشنیده مگیر
ای آشنا ، چشم دل بگشا ، حال من بنگر ، سوز و ساز دلم را ندیده مگیر
امشب که تو ، در کنار منی ، غمگسار منی ، سایه از سر من تا سپیده مگیر
ای اشک من ، خیز و پرده مشو ، پیش چشم ترم ، وقت دیدن او ، راه دیده مگیر
بهادر یگانه
oh you who is disloyal, hear the secrets of the heart from my silence
don’t let my silence go unheard
oh you who is familiar, open the eyes of the heart, see the state I’m in
don’t let the burning of my heart go unseen
tonight that you are by my side, you heal my sorrows
don’t take you’re shade away from me (1) till morning
oh tears, leave and don’t become a veil in front of my wet eyes
don’t cloud my sight when it is time to see them
bahador yeganeh
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1) Being someones shade means being dependable, being someones shelter. It’s saying don’t take your presence away because that’s what is keeping me safe and at peace.
both worlds are nothing but the expression of his splendor (2)
I told you that which is exposed and that which is hidden as well
there is nothing certain about the ways of the world
and not in the spinning of fate as well
the lover is unafraid of the judge, bring the wine
and the punishment of the court as well (3)
the mohtaseb (4) knows that Hafez is in love
and the minister of the kingdom of Solomon as well
hafez - ghazaliyat
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1) has virtue and that which is better than virtue as well.
2) literally translates to the glow of his face. I used his but farsi pronouns are gender neutral (and he’s talking about god here who also doesn’t have a gender).
3) he’s not afraid of the judge or the punishment that the court would give him.
4) religious police. At some point in history, there were people who were responsible for “guarding morality” and were separate from the police that dealt with state laws. One of the things the religious police dealt with was the consumption of alcohol.
you who is disloyal, why now that I’ve fallen to my feet (1)
you are the medicine that has arrived after Sohrab’s (2) death
you who is stone hearted, you could have wanted this sooner, why now?
my life isn’t long enough for your todays and tomorrows
why leave things till tomorrow when I’m your guest today
my darling, I gave my youth to your coquetry
now go be coquettish with the youth, why me?
alas for these short and uncertain lives
why ignore the me who has gone insane because of your love so much
I asked with my head low with the eagerness of Farhaad (3)
oh sweet (4) lips, why give a bitter, vague answer
oh night of separation, where my eyes didn’t sleep for a moment
why do you keep singing lullabies to my sleepy fate
the sky is in chaos like the gathering of lovers
I’m amazed that the world doesn’t fall apart
in the autumn where you are away from the flower, oh sorrowful nightingale
silence is the way of loyalty, why are you creating chaos
oh Shahriyar, you shouldn’t have gone on a journey without your beloved
this journey is to the afterlife, why go alone
Shahriyar - Ghazaliyat
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1) it means when hardships finally manage to break you and you can’t get up again
2) a historical figure from the shahname who got killed by his dad. His dad finds out that the person he injured is his son so he sends people to get medicine but the king, being wary of them, makes sure that the medicine arrives late so that his son dies.
3) Farhaad is another historic figure from the story of Shirin and Khosrow who loved Shirin so much, he carved a stone mountain (mount bisotun) by himself and even dug a tunnel through it for her and later he gets tricked into thinking that she has died and kills himself.
4) Shirin is the name of the woman who Farhaad loved and the name means sweet.
in this house of isolation, no one knocks on the door
in our hardship filled meadow no bird flaps its wings
none of those who are trapped by the night pick up a lamp
no one knocks on the door to dawn in night’s alley
I’m sitting in wait for this riderless dust (1)
alas, no morning will visit a night like this
it’s a path filled with cruelty and within it other than sorrow
no one says a familiar hello to the passerby
my ruined heart cannot get worse than this
for the knife of your sorrow cannot wreck more than this
what yes are you answering with those closed gates (2) of yours?
leave, for no one calls to the deaf
I have no shade nor fruit, they cut me down and it is just
otherwise, no one throws an axe at a fresh tree
hooshang-e-ebtehaaj - ghazaliyaat
درین سرای بی کسی کسی به در نمی زند
به دشتِ پُرملال ما پرنده پَر نمی زند
یکی ز شب گرفتگان چراغ بر نمی کُند
کسی به کوچه سارِ شب درِ سحر نمی زند
نشسته ام در انتظارِ این غبارِ بی سوار
دریغ کز شبی چنین سپیده سر نمی زند
گذرگهی است پُر ستم که اندر او به غیر غم
یکی صلای آشنا به رهگذر نمی زند
دل خراب من دگر خراب تر نمی شود
که خنجر غمت از این خراب تر نمی زند
چه چشم پاسخ است از این دریچه های بسته ات؟
برو که هیچ کس ندا به گوش کر نمی زند
نه سایه دارم و نه بر، بیفکنندم و سزاست
اگر نه بر درخت تر کسی تبر نمی زند
One thing I often see in translations which sometimes irks me is when yaar (یار) is translated to lover. Yaar in farsi means beloved companion and while in some context it could be romantic it isn’t an exclusively romantic term and even then it doesn’t have the same implications as lover. Beloved would be closer but generally it’s used as something slightly closer than a companion, basically a companion whom you hold dear.
While I get that translating is hard and finding an appropriate term for things that don’t have a direct equivalent can be difficult that doesn’t excuse using lover as a translation of yaar in a political poem where it clearly means comrade or where the poem is literally about a family member? seriously, at least put in some effort and have a look at the context.
without you, oh moonlight, one again I passed by that alley
I became all eyes, ardently searching for you
the enthusiasm of seeing you overflowed from my existence
I became the insane lover whom I once was
from the the place hidden within my life, the flower of your memory shone
the garden of a hundred flowers laughed
the scent of a hundred memories spread
I remembered, one day we walked through that alley together
we spread our wings and we wandered together in that solitude we wanted
we sat by the stream for a few hours
you, whose eyes carry all the secrets of the world
me, who was lost in your gaze
the sky clear and the night calm
fate smiling and time docile
branches of the moon fallen into the water
the tree branches, reaching their hands towards the moonlight
the night, the desert, the flowers and the stones
all have given their hearts to the melody of the night
I remember you told me
stay away from this love
for a few moments, look at this water
water is the mirror of passing love
you, who today looks into a pair of eyes
tomorrow, your heart will be with another
in order to forget, leave this city for a while
I told you
I know no fear (the type that causes someone to runway) of love
to travel away from you, I cannot, I cannot
the first day that my heart flew while pleading for you
I sat on your rooftop like a dove
you threw a stone at me, I didn’t run away or fall apart
I said again, you’re the hunter and I am the deer of the meadow
in order to fall into your trap, I search and searched everywhere
I don’t know how to run away from love, I cannot
a tear fell from a tree branch
the night bird moaned bitterly and shed tears
the tear in your eyes quivered
the moon laughed at your love
I remember that I didn’t hear an answer from you
I set foot within the realm of sorrow
I didn’t fall apart or runaway
within the darkness, that night and many other nights passed
you sought no sign of your pained lover again
you no longer pass by that alley
but without you, I miserably passed by that alley again
forough-e-farokhzaad
بی تو، مهتاب شبی باز از آن کوچه گذشتم
همه تن چشم شدم خیره به دنبال تو گشتم
شوق دیدار تو لبریز شد از جان وجودم
شدم آن عاشق دیوانه که بودم
در نهانخانه جانم گل یاد تو درخشید
باغ صد خاطره خندید
عطر صد خاطره پیچید
یادم آمد که شبی با هم از آن کوچه گذشتیم
پر گشودیم و در آن خلوت دل خواسته گشتیم
ساعتی بر لب آن جوی نشستیم
تو همه راز جهان ریخته در چشم سیاهت
من همه محو تماشای نگاهت
آسمان صاف و شب آرام
بخت خندان و زمان رام
خوشه ماه فرو ریخته در آب
شاخهها دست بر آورده به مهتاب
شب و صحرا و گل و سنگ
همه دل داده به آواز شباهنگ
یادم آید، تو به من گفتی:
از این عشق حذر کن
لحظهای چند بر این آب نظر کن
آب، آئینه عشق گذران است
تو که امروز نگاهت به نگاهی نگران است
باش فردا، که دلت با دگران است
تا فراموش کنی، چندی از این شهر سفر کن
با تو گفتم:
حذر از عشق ندانم
سفر از پیش تو هرگز نتوانم، نتوانم
روز اول که دل من به تمنای تو پر زد
چون کبوتر لب بام تو نشستم
تو به من سنگ زدی، من نرمیدم، نگسستم
باز گفتم: که تو صیادی و من آهوی دشتم
تا بدام تو در افتم همه جا گشتم و گشتم
حذر از عشق ندانم، نتوانم
اشکی از شاخه فرو ریخت
مرغ شب ناله تلخی زد و بگریخت
اشک در چشم تو لرزید
ماه بر عشق تو خندید
یادم آید که دگر از تو جوابی نشنیدم
پای در دامن اندوه کشیدم
نگسستم، نرمیدم
رفت در ظلمت شب، آن شب و شبهای دگر هم
نه گرفتی دگر از عاشق آزرده خبر هم
نه کنی دیگر از آن کوچه گذر هم
بی تو، اما به چه حالی من از آن کوچه گذشتم
فریدون مشیری
*what I translated as lover means someone who is in love not someone who is in a relationship
