Home » Iran Nameh » Vol. XXV » Vol. XXV-Mowlânâ Jalâl al-Din RumiRumi and Ghazal
This article proposes a typology of the ghazals of Rumi in which there are various speaking personae and addressees. Understanding the different types of address, and the sometimes sudden shift in the voices of the poems helps us better understand their structure and message. To some extent these shifting voices mirror the style of address in the Qur’an, and Rumi indeed suggests that he thinks of his own poetry –in both the Masnavi and the Divan, as a kind of inspired writing, similar to revelation, so it is not surprising that the style of language reflects that of the Qur’an. Rumi’s poems are also very original in metaphor as well as in bending the structural rules of the ghazal.
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A Ghazal is a love poem. Many
A Ghazal is a love poem. Many of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi’s poems are classified as Ghazal, although the love written of here is not mundane love at all.
What Do You Think Will Happen?
If you pass your night
and merge it with the dawn
for the sake of the heart,
what do you think will happen?
If the entire world
is covered with the blossoms
you have labored to plant,
what do you think will happen?
If the elixir of life
that has been hidden in the dark
fills the desert and towns,
what do you think will happen?
If because of
your generosity and love
a few humans discover their lives
what do you think will happen?
If you pour an entire jar
filled with joyous wine
on the head of those already drunk,
what do you think will happen?
Go my friend.
Bestow your love
even on your enemies.
If you touch their hearts,
what do you think will happen?
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Based on the translation by Nader Khalili