Quatrain 5

 

هر ذره  که  بر روی  زمینی  بوده است

خورشید رخی زهره جبینی  بوده است

گرد  از رخ  نازنین  به  آزرم  فشان

کان هم رخ  خوب  نازنینی  بوده است

source, Dashti 37, p. 250 

har zarre ke bar ru-ye zamini budast

khorshid rokhi zohre jabini budast

gard az rokh-e naazanin be aazarm fashaan 

kaan ham rokh-e khub-e naazanini budast 

  

 

Every spinkling of dust
 ever on earth's face 
composed a radiant face, 
a Venus-brow. 
Brush the dust from your lovely face in respect; 

this dust you brush belonged to a precious face.

 

Each particle of earth on ground you see --

A beauty proud like Venus once was she;

Ah, gently wipe the dust from Loveling's face --

That, too, was once a beauty fair and free. 

Saidi, quatrain 86 

 

 

    Variants worth noting occur in the second and third lines of the Persian: 

    2nd line:   پیش از من و تو تاج و نگینی بوده است  

                        pish az man o to taaj o nagini budast 

                       were before you and me  crown and ring-stone

    3rd line:   instead of رخی نازنین   read  رخی آستین,  rokhi aastin, sleeve-face

 

Translation & Discussion of the quatrain:

More than the plain fact of our existence and passing out of existence, this quatrain acknowledges the beauty and splendor in the composition of those who have gone before.  1.  Every atom/speck of dust which has existed on earth's face 2. Has been a face like the sun, a brow like Venus  These sun-faced, Venus-browed compounds, 'appositional possessive compounds',  a term which Whitney used in his Sanskrit Grammar (could be that Sanskrit is the mother of all Indoiranoeuropean compounds but this notion now may be outmoded).  They are lovely, and on the subject of Persian compounds, Sir William Jones said: "One of the chief beauties of the Persian language is the frequent use of compound adjectives; in the variety and elegance of which it surpasses not only the German and English but even the Greek" (William Jones, A Grammar of the Persian Language, 1771, Scolar Press Facsimile, Scolar Press Limited, Menston, England, 1969, 70)  3. The dust from the lovely face brush it off with respect به  آزرم   I have translated 'in respect.'  The speaker exhorts us to let  memory 'brush the dust, etc.'  -- memory, which reminds  us to render homage, show respect, be gentle and mindful.   There is no compelling reason to say 'from your lovely face.' نازنین  may be a substantive not a modifier -- so, 'the face of elegance, of loveliness (that elegance and loveliness the speaker describes in the second line -- this idea I took  from Saidi, above) 4.  Since that face too has been a good and lovely face.

 

Questions about the quatrain: This is a question about adjective/substantive compounds.  Are there studies which classify Persian compounds and even compare them with 'inherited' Indo-iranian-european compounds?

 

   FitzGerald, according to Heron-Allen, does not use this quatrain, but he has this stanza (19, 5th edition):

 

 I sometimes think that never blows so red

                   The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;                 

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears

Dropt in her lap from some once lovely Head.

 

    The quatrain from the Ouselely MS. which FitzGerald consulted was according to Heron-Allen:

  هر جا  که  گلی و لاله زاری  بودست

 

از سُرخی  ِ خون  شهریاری  بودست

 

هر شاخ بنفشه  کز  زمین  می روید

 

خالیست که  بر رخ  نگاری  بودست

 

har jaa ke goli yo laalezaari budast

az sorkhi-ye khun-e  shahriyaari budast

har shaakh-e benafshe kaz zamin mi ruyad

khaalist ke bar rokh-e negaari budast 

 Where ruddy tulips grow and roses red,
Know that a mighty monarch's blood was shed;
        And where the violet rears her purple tuft,
Be sure some black-moled girl doth rest her head.
 Whinfield, quatrain 104