You Are My Sultan
Ghazal 31371
33573 You are my sultan, you are my sultan,2
And within my heart and soul, you are my faith.
(When) you breathe into me,3 I become alive.
What is (what is the worth of just) one soul? (For) you are a
hundred4 of my soul!
33575 Bread without you is poison to me, not bread;
You are also my water, as well as my bread.
Poison from you becomes an antidote to me;
You are my candy and abundant sugar.
You are my garden, meadow, and paradise
(And) you are my cypress and smiling jasmine.
You are also my king, as well as my moon,
(And) you are my ruby, as well as my mine.
33579 I became silent.5You tell its interpretation:
For in speech, you are my proof.
--From The Dîwân-é Kabîr (also known as "Kulliyat-é Shams" and
"Dîwân-é Shams-é Tabrîz") of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard, 6/00
© Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration)
Notes on the text, with line number:
1Ghazal 3173: the first two verses of this ghazal are almost always
beem chosen for the final vocal movement [the "fourth selam"] of
the music composed for the famous Mevlevi Whirling Prayer
Ceremony [samâ`]. For a recording of the Translator singing his own fourth selam melody using this ghazal, click here,
2(33573) You are my sultan: means both Shams-i Tabriz, and on a
higher level, God alone, the Only Beloved. It is a characteristic of
Persian sufi poetry to be ambiguous in such a way as to refer both
to the human beloved and the Divine Beloved.
3(33574) When you breathe into me: refers to the God-given power
of the spiritual master to invigorate the disciple spiritually. This is
also a reference to when God breathed into Adam of His spirit
(Qur'an 15:29).
4(33574) a hundred times: an idiom meaning a great many.
5(33579) Rumi's ghazals often end with an appeal to silence
[khâmôsh].
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
33573 sulTân-é man-î, sulTân-é man-î
w-andar del-o jân îmân-é man-î
dar man be-dam-î man zenda shaw-am
yak jân che bow-ad Sad jân-é man-î
33575 nân bê-tô ma-râ zahr-ast na nân
ham âb-é man-î, ham nân-é man-î
zahr az tô ma-râ pâzahr shaw-ad
qand-o shakar-é arzân-é man-î
bâgh-o chaman-o fardûs-é man-î
sarw-o saman-é khandân-é man-î
ham shâh-é man-î, ham mâh-é man-î
ham la`l-é man-î, ham kân-é man-î
33579 khâmôsh shod-am sharH-ash tô be-gû
zê-râ ba-sokhon burhân-é man-î
Meter (from Mixed Meters): XX ooX XX ooX
(Hazaj akhrab)
