IN/FIDELITY

FIVE POEMS BY FOROUGH FARROKHZAD

Art by eylül doğanay

Translator’s Note

In Forough Farrokhzad’s poetry, we can hear a woman express her innermost desires. From her first poetry collection, Captive, published in 1952 when she was 18, a confessional style marked by restlessness and joy can be heard despite the constraints laid by a restraining society. Anxiety and euphoria are among the fluctuations of a sudden discovery of love that is a salient part of her poetry’s exploration of love, a prevalent theme in most classical Persian poetry. By centering herself as the one who experiences love, Farrokhzad takes the unprecedented route of concretizing and problematizing love voiced from an underrepresented standpoint that pushes the culture in a way that does not quite fit as acceptable or easy.

Discovering Forough Farrokhzad in my own repressive upbringing in a country where her poetry was not available, I’m invested to mimic the poet’s powerful use of emotions as experience, beyond the primary lexical and syntactic meaning, to move the reader who has not experienced the same social conditions. In the process of my translation, I have committed to replicating the sensual qualities through a generative process that provides space for tension and intensity rather than suffocating it. In terms of fidelity and accuracy I am an advocate of retaining what Don Mee Choi refers to as manipulating energy in the original language; something that provides me enough reason as a hack writer in the service of creation to find creative solutions to connect to those sensual qualities. For instance, in ‘Feral Flame’, I have taken the liberty to move the third person pronoun in the original to second person in the target language, firstly because of grammatically gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun in the origin language, and secondly, for the possibility of exceeding the intensity of the origin language by directly addressing the beloved. I have refrained from using the same strategy for ‘Stranger’, as the use of third person for the beloved aligns with the way real objects as the sensual qualities are receding away from the speaker of the poem. In her early poetry, Farrokhzad sticks to old forms, which follow metrics and are usually rhymed; for instance, the words for /cage/ and /breathe/ are both perfectly rhymed: /Qafas/, /قفس/, and /Nafas/, نفس//. Some words are used in their abbreviated form: /گنه/ for /گناه/, and /کاو/ for /که او/ which is reminiscent of older poetical terms masterfully used for thematically groundbreaking poems. To maintain fluidity of reading, I have had to sacrifice the original rhymed form. In ‘Grief,’ I have added “eroticism” to the phrase “sinless lovers”; drawing from the resources in the translating language in a foreignizing move that connects to the sensual qualities of translation. Some of the intricacies Farrokhzad uses in Farsi are lost in English. For example, the words for “eye” and “brook” are almost the same in Farsi: /cheshm/, /چشم/, and /cheshmeh/, /چشمه/, which cannot be rendered as it is into English. Despite Farrokhzad’s overtly truncated verse in Iran, her imaginative power and immediacy of emotion have created a revered poet of her that many Iranians know the timeless stanza of ‘On Loving’, repeated in the third and final stanza, by their heart.

—Monir Gholamzadeh Bazarbash

FIVE POEMS

Translated from Farsi by Monir Gholamzadeh Bazarbash

Feral Flame 

I close these two eyes of mine, both on fire

So they won’t behold the fire in your two eyes

So my heart stays neither heated nor throbbing fast

From the flame of this afflicting look

 

I close these two eyes of mine, both on fire

To sail past the valley of scandal

So the mute heart won’t break its hush

Yet turn to silence and loneliness

 

O what do the fatigued followers seek

When they ask about you?

You, the feral flame of the sun

And in such vain they run after you 

You, moonlight’s open bud

You must sprinkle the light wave

Over the drowsy grassland of the eyes

Inviting them to the sin’s bedchamber

Your sweet soundless kiss melts

The moans of passion

Exasperated, it spills love and lust

In the curls of this enchantress

 

From the goblet of your seducer lips

I must drink wine and kisses

Drunken, I must rest my head 

Against your beautiful chest’s stronghold

 

O, thirsty desire, why do you tie

The thread of life round him in vain?

One day worn and ripped

You will giggle at this futile endeavor

 

I will set hope`s harvest on fire

With flames of yearning and frustration

O, you rioting sinned heart

Maybe you might calm a second from agitation

 

I leash you to the costly fetters of grief

So that you no longer glide to him any more

O, you heart’s outworn and unleashed bird

Cherish this grief, cherish it

 

_Ahwaz, December 1953

On Loving  

Tonight, from the sky of your eyes

Stars rain down on my poems 

My claws bury their glistenings

In the wintery desert of pages 

 

My frenzied fiery poem

Guilty of carving desires’ furrows

Burns itself anew

In the eternal fire of longing

 

Yes, birth is to love

Though the end of path remains unknown

I will dwell no longer on the ending

Since loving is beautiful in itself

 

Why dread the darkness

The night is full of diamond droplets

And the hypnotic scent of jasmine

This is what the night leaves behind

 

O, let me lose myself in you

No one may ever find a trace of me again

My spirit, alight and your sigh, damp 

Blows over the body of my song

 

 

O, let me slip from this open aperture

Dozing on the warm wings of dreams

To travel alongside the days

To flee from the border of the worlds

 

 

You know what I want from life

To be you…entirely you

If I must live in the world one hundred times

Let it be you again…and again, you

 

What is hidden in me is the sea

How can I find the strength to hide it?

With you, in the face of this mighty storm

I only wish I had the strength to speak

 

I am so brimmed with you, all I want is to wander

Wander in the midst of wilderness

Gnash my head against the stubborn rocks

Fling my body to the sea waves

 

I am so brimmed with you, all I want is to crumble

Like dust on myself

Lay my head quietly under your foot

Cling to you like a shadow

Yes, birth is to love

Though the end of path remains unknown

I will no longer dwell on the ending

Since loving is beautiful in itself

Stranger 

     Again, a heart fell at my foot

Again, an eye fixed at my face

Again, in the throes of battle

My love conquered a cold heart

 

Again, from the fountain of my lips,

A thirst was quenched, was quenched

Again, within the nestle of my arms

An admirer grew numb, grew numb

 

I knit my eyes on his with tenderness

Unaware what I seek within him

I want a mad lover who will soon

Forsake ambition, wealth, and reputation

 

He wants the wine of kisses from me

How can I tell of this hopeful heart?

He muses on pleasure, unaware

That I desire its joy that does not fade

 

I want the tranquility of love from him

     To offer all I am comprised of

He wants a blazing body from me

To burn away the uncertainty within him

 

He says to me, “O burning bosom,

Inebriate me with your warmth, for I am mad.”

I answer him, “O stranger,

Pass me by, I remain unknown to you.”

 

Sigh from my heart, from this chalice of hope

At last, it broke and no one knew its secret

It turned into a claw in every stranger`s hand

How pitiful, no voice ever wove it into their song

 

September 1954, Tehran

Farewell 

I am leaving weary, withered, weak

Leaving to my own wrecked seat

I swear to God I take from your city

My feverish, foolish heart

 

I take it, to that distant point

To wash it from sin`s color

To wash it from love`s stain

All this faulty and ruined desire

 

I take it, to distance it from you

From you, O semblance of an impossible heart

I carry it away to bury it, alive

So it may no longer long to unite

 

The wail wavers, the tear dances

O, let me flee

From you, O, hissing spring of sin

Perhaps it`s better I avoid you

 

I swear to God, I was a happy bud

Until love`s hand came and plucked me from the bough

I became a flame of sighs, a hundred regrets

These lips of mine never touched those lips

 

At last, love’s strings have tied up my foot

I go, smile perched on my lips, toiling

I go. Give up on me,

O you, the barren abyss of hope

 

September 1953, Tehran

Grief 

As the Karoon River twists

Like a girl’s messy hair

The sun dies on the earth’s naked shoulders and the night’s hot breaths gnaws at the fluttering water`s survival

 

Away from my fixed eyeballs, the Southern shore

Plunged love-drunk in moonlight’s embrace

Night with a thousand bright and blood-soaked eye

Peeps at the eroticism of sinless lovers

 

Mute and inert lies the reed, and a stranger bird

Wails every breath in its dark abyss

The moonlight dashes to behold new disaster

What the little bird endures between terror claws

 

Upon the coastal waters of Shatt, the shadows of palm

Trees play in the corrupt breeze of the midnight

The longer tongue-tied uproar of frogs

Wreathes in the silent night satiated with secrets  

 

In an ecstasy born of the night’s beauty

Your farthest dream draws nigh

Your scent ripples upon water 

Your eyes shine and darken

 

The prison of my love in your hands, how clueless

The poor heart broke despite all hope and yearning

You withdrew to your own Shatt, and left this land

O, you the broken bough, how to cut off scandal from love

FIVE POEMS

By Forough Farrokhzad

شعله رمیده

می‌بندم این دو چشم پرآتش را
تا ننگرد درون دو چشمانش
تا داغ و پر تپش نشود قلبم
از شعله نگاه پریشانش

می‌بندم این دو چشم پرآتش را
تا بگذرم ز وادی رسوائی
تا قلب خامشم نکشد فریاد
رو می‌کنم به خلوت و تنهائی


ای رهروان خسته چه می‌جوئید
در این غروب سرد ز احوالش
او شعله رمیده خورشید است
بیهوده میدوید به دنبالش


او غنچه شکفته مهتابست
باید که موج نور بیفشاند
بر سبزه‌زار شب‌زده چشمی
کاو را بخوابگاه گنه خواند


باید که عطر بوسه خاموشش
با ناله‌های شوق بیآمیزد
در گیسوان آن زن افسونگر
دیوانه‌وار عشق و هوس ریزد


باید شراب بوسه بیاشامد
از ساغر لبان فریبائی
مستانه سرگذارد و آرامد
بر تکیه‌گاه سینه زیبائی


ای آرزوی تشنه به گرد او
بیهوده تار عمر چه می‌بندی؟
روزی رسد که خسته و وامانده
بر این تلاش بیهوده می‌خندی


آتش زنم به خرمن امیدت
با شعله‌های حسرت و ناکامی
ای قلب فتنه‌جوی گنه‌کرده
شاید دمی ز فتنه بیارامی



می‌بندمت به بند گران غم
تا سوی او دگر نکنی پرواز
ای مرغ دل که خسته و بیتابی
دمساز باش با غم او، دمساز


اهواز- زمستان 32  

از دوست داشتن 

امشب از آسمان دیده‌ی تو

روی شعرم ستاره می‌بارد

در زمستان دشت کاغذها

پنجه‌هایم جرقه می‌کارد

شعر دیوانه‌ی تب‌آلودم

شرمگین از شیار خواهش‌ها

پیکرش را دوباره می‌سوزد

عطش جاودان آتش‌ها

آری آغاز دوست داشتن است

گرچه پایان راه ناپیداست

من به پایان دگر نیندیشم

که همین دوست داشتن زیباست

 

شب پر از قطره‌های الماس است

از سیاهی چرا هراسیدن 

آنچه از شب به جای می‌ماند

عطر سکرآور گل یاس اس

آه بگذار گم شوم در تو

کس نیابد دگر نشانه‌ی من

روح سوزان و آه مرطوبت

بوزد بر تن ترانه من

آه بگذار زین دریچه باز

خفته بر بال گرم رویاها

همره روزها سفر گیرم

بگریزم ز مرز دنیاها

 

دانی از زندگی چه می‌خواهم

من تو باشم.. تو.. پای تا سر تو

زندگی گر هزار باره بود

بار دیگر تو.. بار دیگر تو

 

آنچه در من نهفته دریایی ست

کی توان نهفتنم باشد

با تو زین سهمگین طوفان

کاش یارای گفتنم باشد

 

بس که لبریزم از تو می‌خواهم

بروم در میان صحراها

سر بسایم به سنگ کوهستان

تن بکوبم به موج دریاها

 

بس که لبریزم از تو می‌خواهم

چون غباری ز خود فرو ریزم

زیر پای تو سر نهم آرام

به سبک سایه به تو آویزم

 

آری آغاز دوست داشتن است

گرچه پایان راه ناپیداست

من به پایان دگر نیندیشم

که همین دوست داشتن زیباست

ناآشنا

باز هم قلبی به پایم اوفتاد
باز هم چشمی به رویم خیره شد
باز هم در گیرودار یک نبرد
عشق من بر قلب سردی چیره شد

باز هم از چشمه لبهای من
تشنه‌ئی سیراب شد، سیراب شد
باز هم در بستر آغوش من
رهروی در خواب شد، در خواب شد


بر دو چشمش دیده میدوزم به ناز
خود نمیدانم چه میجویم در او
عاشقی دیوانه میخواهم که زود
بگذرد از جاه و مال و آبرو


او شراب بوسه میخواهد ز من
من چه گویم قلب پر امید را
او بفکر لذت و غافل که من
طالبم آن لذت جاوید را


من صفای عشق میخواهم از او
تا فدا سازم وجود خویش را
او تنی میخواهد از من آتشین
تا بسوزاند در او تشویش را

او بمن میگوید ای آغوش گرم
مست نازم کن، که من دیوانه ام
من باو میگویم ای ناآشنا
بگذر از من، من ترا بیگانه‌ام


آه از این دل، آه از این جام امید
عاقبت بشکست و کس رازش نخواند
چنگ شد در دست هر بیگانه‌ای
ای دریغا، کس بآوازش نخواند

تهران- مهر ماه ۱۳۳۳

وداع

میروم خسته و افسرده و زار

سوی منزلگه ویرانه خویش

بخدا میبرم از شهر شما

دل شوریده و دیوانه خویش

میبرم، تا که در آن نقطه دور

شستشویش دهم از رنگ گناه

شستشویش دهم از لکه عشق

زینهمه خواهش بیجا و تباه

میبرم تا ز تو دورش سازم

ز تو، ای جلوه امید محال

میبرم زنده بگورش سازم

تا از این پس نکند یاد وصال

ناله میلرزد، می‌رقصد اشک

آه، بگذار که بگریزم من

از تو، ای چشمه جوشان گناه

شاید آن به که بپرهیزم من

بخدا غنچه شادی بودم

دست عشق آمد و از شاخم چید

شعله آه شدم، صد افسوس

که لبم باز بر آن لب نرسید

عاقبت بند سفر پایم بست

میروم، خنده بلب، خونین دل

میروم، از دل من دست بدار

ای امید عبث بی حاصل

تهران- مهر ماه ۱۳۳۳

اندوه 

كارون چو گيسوان پريشان دختري

بر شانه هاي لخت زمين تاب مي خورد

خورشيد رفته است و نفس هاي داغ شب

بر سينه هاي پر تپش آب مي خورد

دور از نگاه خيره من ساحل جنوب

افتاد مست عشق در آغوش نور ماه

شب با هزار چشم درخشان و پر زخون

سر مي كشد به بستر عشاق بي گناه

نيزار خفته خامش و يك مرغ ناشناس

هر دم ز عمق تيره آن ضجه مي كشد

مهتاب مي دود كه ببيند در اين ميان

مرغك ميان پنجه وحشت چه مي كشد

بر آبهاي ساحل شط سايه هاي نخل

مي لرزد از نسيم هوسباز نيمه شب

آواي گنگ همهمه قورباغه ها

پيچيده در سكوت پر از راز نيمه شب

در جذبه اي كه حاصل زيبايي شب است

روياي دور دست تو نزديك مي شود

بوي تو موج مي زند آنجا بروي آب

چشم تو مي درخشد و تاريك مي شود

بيچاره دل كه با همه اميد و اشتياق

بشكست و شد به دست تو زندان عشق من

در شط خويش رفتي و رفتي از اين ديار

اي شاخه شكسته ز طوفان عشق من

  • A poet, script-writer, award-winning filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad (1934-1967) is a celebrated figure on the international scene. Considered as obscene and exploring the forbidden topic of a man and woman`s relationship, her poetry is mainly banned in their place of origin, Iran. These poems are chosen from her collection named Captive that she versified when she was eighteen.

  • Monir Gholamzadeh Bazarbash is a PhD student in Florida State University. She was born and raised in Urmia, Iran. She lives in Florida with her son.

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