 خانوم ها با خوایان عزی سرورونی گرامی خوش آمدید و سفا آوردید هاو لفلی تو ها بیو هیر اون این ایفننگ where you could perhaps been having American cocktails to celebrate the Independence Day I hope none of you turned down an invitation to Winfield House گول در بر و میدر کف و معشوخ بکام است سلطان جهانم بچنین روز قولام است روزیز با my side وین in my hand or will be in an hour's time when we go to our reception and beloved is in an agreeable mood سلطان در بای نحن فى منیی روزیم که اینه کافی برای و بهباری های نیده روزی روز ا기�نی شیکنین و این همه میکنین بود است بسیو برای میکنین خوش بود روزی اینتی روزیم های نقم اون شکم خبه با روزیم جو هلن جونسرن it is the usual suspects Joe Helen Jon Carson بسیون من سورس خود سرور این این روزیم و برای شبود و در از از دنوان که انتا رو در برای شرامه خواند. و برای شکر در از از دنوان بذارد که انجام با مرند ، با از دنوان دینامو دینامو در دکتیر زیبار اردالان که تب عاقب راستید. و باید بایده باقی که باید باید انجام باقید جمبور؟ کاراتدون باکت د signature تو اندامی باید، خود کهی مقرد من جانب شخص باری دامی کند باید، من که دید انگام باید، اینه امریک میوبوریم، بیشویی باید، دبي ویوشی باید، پکم تا باید garlic باید، اندامی باید باید، باید میوبوریم باید، ناunnام باید باید، ازواری هواید، تاinedش باید، ولو کنی زمانی بودنگرانی را از اذادی بایستان دیodi، خیلی را در شикиون، افتشایی میزار بودیم دو بکنی از امریک هستمده بودی. بودیين میمیم، بودی. احتیوام شروعی که آگام ما چه واقعا مردد و روید آرق. از بادیان از امریک و شویر بودیت اصدرانی بودیم از امریک از ا سباری. از امه از امریک از امه بودیم دهید کانپی پلیس برایستن کنس. پرمو ожидید today و أح напohl اناک 我 Your آخر و اح من در و لومت告訴 you و بود دیگه دن than دبر، بود keeps استاملی رو کن었습니다 پراس در دداases آ monasteries آرگ جاهت باين بکنه برای و بای بای ندر، اصبت حقید جنودیم. باين بید بید بایت ساقید. بایید خوشم بده بایترین. باید باید بسرگر از بودی میکن فکر کنی برد اگر در شامیم. خوشم باید باید باید، باید باید باید باید. پرشن، پرسن، ایندویچور. And it happened that, 2019 is also the 200th anniversary of Goethe's West Oslice Divan, which was written in homage to Haafiz. At the time that the rest of the world was infatuated with the idea of orientalism, exoticism of that part of the world, Goethe was telling to people to be more sophisticated and understand what is going on, Persian poetry. So that was the inspiration and a great inspiration all along came, who taught me in some ways, in a very good way, Persian again, a language I had, I'm ashamed to say almost, I had lost. Forgotten. So it has been three years of extraordinary encounters with artists' experience, looking at hundreds of documents, works, studio visit. And finally we decided to do an exhibition of nine Iranian artists in Venice and nine Iranian artists in London. And I hope you all find a way to go to Venice and or go to London just a few subway lines here and to see the exhibition. In Venice it's taken place as Narges John Said at the Music Conservatory. The idea was to have an experience when visitors go there to have that kind of experience between the visual art and music. There is music playing, there is singing going on, and the experience and all the emails I received from visitors, all the feedback I had, it was an amazing moment during the visit. And I really put a lot of emphasis on that and luckily our project is a collateral event going on until 23rd of November. So it has been in the process an incredible pleasure to have people like Narges John around, to talk and to be guided by her and others. And this event is now the sixth event, which we did in conjunction with this exhibition in London. We did sixth event in which people, Iranian actually talked about their art. Film, architecture, poetry, psychoanalysis. And it was a wonderful moment and they are all on our website. They are filmed usually and are our website. And that is a special moment to see Iranian talking about their own culture. Thank you. Thank you, Zebra John. So a bit of running order to see how we're going to conduct this evening. I'm honoured and blessed truly that I have two of my dearest oldest friends here, but that's not why I chose them. It's because that they are authorities on the fields that they do the research on or write about. Bruce Monal and Sarah Stewart. Bruce and Sarah will be taking us on a journey this evening, first to explore the pre-Islamic beginnings and origins of some rituals, motifs and images that are engraved on the cultural persona of the peoples of what we call the Persianate world and continue to inform our culture, literature and the arts. Sarah will focus our gaze on some of the most significant figures whose names are so well known to us, but not all of us will have an in-depth knowledge of their genesis and for some you may not even associate them with the Persian culture. We will then move to the classical era in the company of the traveller and linguist Bruce Monal and we will encounter his selections of classical poetry. We will then follow the path to the modern times and conclude the evening with reciting a couple of contemporary poems and then we would like to invite you to a brief question and answer session and of course there will be a reception of refreshments later. So I'll start by introducing Sarah to you. Sarah Stewart is the Sharpoorji Palanji senior lecturer in Zoroastrianism in the School of History, Religions and Philosophies here at SOAS and also co-chairs the institute that carries the same name. Sarah has written extensively on Zoroastrianism in Iran and in India. Her list of publications and research is available on the SOAS website so I won't take time to read them, but her recent book, which was published just a month ago, is entitled Voices from Zoroastrianism Iran, Oral Texts and Testimony and some of you may have come to the amazing exhibition that she had at the Brunei Gallery, The Everlasting Flame, Zoroastrianism in History and Imaginations. So please join me to welcome Sarah to the podium. Thank you, Nages, for your kind introduction and wow, what a fantastic audience. It's not often I get to talk about Zoroastrianism to a full house and thank you especially to the parasol unit and to Dr. Zeba Adalan for bringing this event to SOAS. So as Nages said, my talks about some of the pre-Islamic, that is Zoroastrian myths and legends and ideas that became absorbed into Persian literature and I'm going to take some examples from the epic literature in particular the Shah Nami or Book of Kings, Verados' great epic, so beloved by Iranians around the world, it traces its origins, its genesis to a chronicle by the same name in the Pahdavi language, the Khwadayna Mark, which informed Verados' work. But before we go there, I want to just do a whistle-stop tour of the Zoroastrian beliefs concerning creation for its the story of creation, the fire, the plant and animal worlds that live on in the imagery of Persian poetry following the demise of Zoroastrianism in Iran. You don't have to read all the labels here but I just wanted to, just by explaining that creation came about by the wise lord Ahura Mazda, the sole creator god, and he created to assist him in this seven divine immortals, the Amishah Spenters. So we have here, beginning with the sky originally conceived of being of stone, water, earth, plant, cattle, man and fire. And the world was created in a perfect state until the evil force Ariman smashed through the sky of stone, polluted, damaged, destroyed everything. Every single aspect he spoiled. So for example, water was pure and he made it salty. Fire was pure and he caused it to smoke. And for every single creation he created a counter-creation. So the good honey bee, for example, he produced the wasp and so on. And so this is the dualism between good and evil that informs the Zoroastrian doctrine and its religious texts. Now returning to the Shahnami, my first example is that of the first man, Geyomaratan in the Old of Eastern language or Geyomard in Pahlavi and Qiyomars in Persian. His name means mortal life and sometimes he's literally referred to as Geya. So this is an illustrated manuscript. This folio here shows him dressed in a leopard skin as he's often depicted holding court in the mountains. And animals are shown sitting around at his feet and it said, the cattle and the diverse beasts of prey grew tame before him. And this is the actual story as it is in the Pahlavi Bundahitian Zoroastrian text. And I'll just read it briefly because the first man was supposed to be the sixth of the creations. So it says here, sixth, he fashioned Geyomard, luminous like the sun. He measured four spears in height, his width equal to his height on the shore of the river deity where the middle of the world is. Geyomard on the left, the bull on the right. To help him, he gave him sleep, the relaxation of the creator. For Ormas fashioned forth that sleep in the shape of a luminous tall young man of 15. And he fashioned Geyomard together with the bull from the earth and from the light and turquoise colour of the sky. He fashioned the semen of humans and cattle as these two seeds are from fire, not from water. So my next story from the Shahnameh concerns the mythical bird, the Simurg in Persian literature with which I'm sure you're all familiar. In Zoroastrianism, this is the great Sena bird from mythology, referred to in Avestan and Pahlavi. I should just say, when I refer to Avestan, I'm sure you probably know this is the ancient language of the prophet Zarathustra, not written down but passed down in oral transmission and finally committed to writing probably in the 6th century. So in keeping with an earlier composition, this picture here is of a stone Simurg. And this has the... It's not the Simurg, sorry, it's the Senmur the forerunner probably of the Simurg and it's a composite creature with a canine head and probably peacock's tail, a fantastical beast. And this was then replaced, so we think, by the Simurg, a far more elegant creature here, the bird. And this story in the Shahnameh is about Zal and his father Sam. They were Zarqa princes of Zabulistan and Sistan and born with the hair, the colour of moonlight, Zal was rejected by his father, abandoned in the mountains and left to die. The baby was noticed by the Simurg who carried him to her nest and reared him as her own, feeding him raw flesh instead of milk. When the news of Zal's survival reached his father's ears, the old king, propelled by a prophetic dream, went in search of his son and bidding farewell to Zal. This is from the Simurg. Let not thy heart forget to love thy nurse, for mine is breaking through my love of thee. And the Simurg then returns Zal to his father. And this picture shows the joyousness of the occasion with Zal riding on the back of the Simurg and holding onto her tail feathers for safety. And my final story from the Shah Nami is about the ordeal by fire and this is a concept that probably goes back to Indo-Iranian times before the advent of Zoroastrianism. And it's the story of Siawash and the painting shows Siawash, the son of Qaykavus, undergoing an ordeal by fire to prove his innocence following the accusation by his stepmother, Sudabeh, of violating her. He urges his horse into the flames and re-emerges, as it says, with rosy cheeks and smiles upon his lips. And the fire ordeal took various forms. The only name I want you to remember is Rashnu, the judge, who is the divinity in Zoroastrianism who's thought to have presided over the ordeal. There are other instances and I'm going to read you just a short extract from the Apathian epic Visu-Ramin, which, again, I'm sure you're familiar with. But here, the old king Mobert who suspects his wife of having an affair with Ramin decides that they should undergo the ordeal and so he builds a huge pyre in the courtyard. It says here, he brought a flame lit from the temple fire to where his men had built a massive pyre. And as the sudden flames sprang up, they stood with aloe wood, musk, campfire, sandalwood to feed the blaze until it seemed to rise and be a partner of the turning skies. It was a golden dome, a wondrous site that shook with incandescent flakes of light. A lovely woman in a crimson dress, with a parting and roaring wild with drunkenness, splendid as when she meets her love and burning with all the heat of separations yearning. Filling the world with dazzling, brilliant light, banishing darkness and the shades of night. But men and women had no notion why the king had made these flames a salt to sky. And it goes on. And then, high on the palace roof, Visu-Ramin observed the fire and knew what it must mean. Look at the state of this pathetic man, Vis said. Isn't it obvious that his plan is that we'll perish on this flaming pyre? But why should we accede to his desire? Come on now, let's leave him here and let him be the one who burns in flames of jealousy. So they took to their heels, obviously being guilty. So now I just want to move on to the fact that these stories underpin the dualistic sense of good and evil, this dichotomy in between the two. And it runs right through Zoroastrianism and can be identified in ideas and tropes and later literature. And it's associated in particular with death and the journey of the soul to the hereafter. We have the idea of the weighing of the good deeds against the bad. And this is a motif that continues to this day as well as in other cultures. So very briefly, this is an ossuary. It's not completely irrelevant because I've taken out a little bit from the middle, which shows the soul in the form of a apparently a naked boy, though I'm not sure how I'm meant to know. His good and bad deeds are being held in two pans. And the divinity holding the scales in the balance is rational, the judge. And so the good and bad deeds are being weighed before the soul proceeds to the chinvat bridge, the bridge of the separator where it will be met by its dena or conscience and its fate will be determined. If it's good deeds about weighed the bad then the dena will appear in the form of a beautiful woman. A familiar image. If the other way round, the soul will be met by an ugly, stinking hag. And this theme is picked up in a later Pahlavi book, 9th century book called the Adavirath Namag. And this describes the journey of the soul of a righteous man, Adavirath, around heaven and hell. And the purpose is to determine this is obviously just 200 years or so 300 years after the Islamic conquest of Iran and Zoroastrian priests wanted to determine whether the religion was still being practiced properly. So here we have Adavirath meeting the beautiful woman, the representation of its good behavior and good deeds. And again we have Rosh Nuh and the weighing scales for the weighing. And then he arrives at the, this is having arrived at the bridge of the separator and taking him around heaven and hell are two guides, Sroosh, the divinity of harkening and prayer and Adipahish the protector of fire. And they're peeping there over the edge of the scene. And they then take him to show this river of tar and tears which is actually hell. And so here you see the unfortunate soul falling off the bridge, the Chinvat bridge into hell and of course meeting the sum of his bad deeds which is, as I said, this nasty, nasty hag. So I've just got one more, a couple more images from here. So this is the book of the Adavirath. Now, Mark, and you can see here this unfortunate soul of a woman in hell being attacked by all sorts of nasty beasts and creepy crawlies. Her sin was being disobedient to husband. And here I juxtapose two folios because on the one hand you have the good wives who obey their husband's commands and on the other side you have the naughty ones. As you might imagine, there are many more sins attributed to women than their male counterparts. But, in fact, punishments for adultery seem to have been fairly handed out quite equally to men and women. But just to finish on this theme, there are two more occasions which I thought might interest you to show how this story has traveled, so we think. So on the left is an image from a uniquely illustrated Persian manuscript of the Islamic Miraj Naameh. And here the prophet Muhammad, mountain on his horse, Burak, beholds the gates of hell. And the women you see there have been strung up their punishment for committing adultery. And then on the right-hand side, in a similar vein to the Adavirath Naamagh, we have a 14th-century copy of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. And this shows Dante with his guide, Virgil, witnessing naked thieves who have been tormented by snakes and the one on the right, sort of consumed with burning fire. The only difference between these images, Christian and Islamic, is that, of course, in Zoroastrianism, hell has no fire, but it's a pretty cold place, foul-smilling. So I'm now going to end, but perhaps not on this grizzly note. Just one final image is of the cockerel, representing Sraasha, Sroesh, as I said, the divinity of harkning and prayer. So on the left, the Miraj Naameh shows the ascent of prophet from Jerusalem through the seven heavens, which draws on Zoroastrian, and apocalyptic traditions. And then we have the white cockerel, Chroesh, which is quite unusual to have in this Islamic text. The prophet is informed by his guide, Gabriel, that this is the cockerel that keeps track of the hours of day and night, whereby people on earth are reminded of the time for prayer. Exactly the same rule as that of the cockerel in the Zoroastrian tradition. So thank you very much. I'm going to just do it again. We can just leave it like that. Thank you very much, Sarah. The themes that you touched upon, obviously those of you familiar with Persian poetry, all world poetry, run through so many of our heroic and romantic epics, and so many of our didactic, you know, mirrors for princes, whether it's a gullistan of Saddi, or so many of the spiritual epics. The idea of good and evil and I suppose so much of Islamic idea of Amr ibn Matruf and Nahya as Munkar and so closely interwoven. The birds that I wanted to pick out from Sarah's images was, of course, Seamork. This extraordinary, mythical, part-human, part-foul creature that soars and dives and carries on flying throughout our literature from very early 10th century Persian poetry that began to be written in Persian language in the classical era and all the way to modern compositions. And, of course, the most significant epic, the spiritual long narrative poem that we have is Mantegotir, the conference or speech of the birds of Attar, a 12th century, about 1170. It was written. And, of course, the hero, the guide of the poem is Hud-Hud, the hoopoo. And Attar starts with, doesn't start, actually comes fairly halfway through the poem and it says مانتغو تیر تو خوش سو هبه اصرار سلیمان آمدی از تفاخور تاج ورزان آمدی And, of course, in Mantegotir I'm so conscious of so many experts sitting here that I don't want to really punch above my weight but bear with my faux pas. As I said, the birds said we need our own leader. We need our own king. And the hoopoo said, okay, I can show you the path, I know. I'm the confidant of Suleyman and I speak and I'm privy to so many secrets. And it is him who takes a select group of birds and some fall by the wayside and they eventually ask him that, where are we going exactly? Those who had passed the initial test. And one of the birds, دیگری گفتش که ای دانای را دیده میگردد در این وادی سیاه پر سیاست مینماید این تریق چند فرسنگ هست این را ای رفق گفت ما را هفت وادی در را هست چون گزشتی هفت وادی درگه هست با از نای در جهان زین را هست نیست از فرسنگ اون آگا هست هست وادی تلب آغاز کار وادی اشق هست زن پس بیکنار پس سیوم وادی هست از اون معرفت هست چاروم وادی استقناسفت هست پنجوم وادی توهید پاک پس سیوم وادی هیرت سعب ناک هفتومین وادی فقر استوفنان با ادازین وادی روش نبود تورا بر کشش افتی روش گوم گرددد اگر بود یک قتر گلزوم گرددد اگر دیگ دیگی دیو از بایش بیفور برای باید این در مخورت خیلی کنی، در پاسه چیزCall of Terror و در در، و برای وفا و این در داریی 훨씬 نه که بای اصلا و بهوشدیتاران برای. در نقذند جرنی برای رمگان، رو الثونت ندنی کنی ، پهوشد در در whoopu شاید، از نقذند در رحوتی برند گزان، هواهی روهها واقعه برای زیاد نو، جایداتی های قوتی رو ازدست برای حجتی شاشت رو آنیدید. موردی این موردی این که موردی برد میراهی های رو دوگه. این قوتی برد میراهی های که دارت داريتی؟ میراهی پني رو برای داره میراهی که میراهی های موردی داشته. این شطانید های قوتی رو موردی ، timeframe nix ralp ,ى ایمرCreep , придумت در بمید و از و قادر تنان، ا ص organised the fifth is unity. The sixth is awe. A deep bewilderment are known before then seventh poverty and nothingness. And there you are suspended motionless نو شوز. I want you if you can remember this, which we will revisit in our modern piece. So on this journey who would I trust to take us through just give us glimpses of the magic that is this vast several centuries of the classical Persian poetry. I can trust no one better than my very own Hood Hood, my Hoopoo, Bruce Wano. Bruce, we agree that I have held back on his biography. I introduced him really very insufficiently as a traveler and linguist and the reason is that I think we will encounter some of his other attributes and some of his passions through his selections of poetry. Bruce Wano, ladies and gentlemen. Well thank you very much for coming and thank you for making it possible Dr. Ziba and Narges and other friends. And we're all on a journey. We journey from youth to old age, we journey physically, we journey between cultures, we learn and we forget. One friend who alas is now dead and a man who wrote poetry in English, in Arabic and in French, Glenn Kandar for Paul. It'll be once no experience is complete for me until I've written a poem about it. And I think as we'll see later in the modern poetry, sometimes poetry can encapsulate experience as sometimes protest, sometimes memory, sometimes internal history, sometimes the continuation of a tradition. And I think poetry in any country is the crystallization of language and emotion and experience. She experienced one of his sonnets, said something that I often think of when we look at modern politics filled with hatred and violence and injustice. And yet culture and beauty can always stand with a quiet voice to provide an alternative to the narratives of hatred and violence and separation. Shakespeare said, how with this rage shall beauty hold a plea whose action is no stronger than a flower. Beauty, even if it is no stronger than a flower, is always pleading for an alternative to narratives of hatred and violence and forgetfulness and erosion by time. Once I was with some friends in the garden of Dolat Abad in Yazd and we had a wonderful young Iranian guide and as often in Persian gardens it's the moment to read Sadi or Hafez or Rumi or Iraqi or other poets and I asked this guide why is it that for Persian people poetry seems to be so important because wherever we went in Iran people would quote poetry and they would use it to clinch an argument, they would use it in proverbs, they would use it to enrich their conversation and the fact that I know some poetry which I've learned largely from my Persian speaking friends, whether Iranian or Afghan or Central Asian, I've learned while traveling so much from the generosity and the hospitality of the people of the Persian and cultural world. This guide turned to us and said, you know in Iran we've been invaded so often, our society has been devastated by violent either civil war, invasions from abroad, collapse, natural calamity, so much of our built heritage, so much of our art collections, so much of our social elite, so much of our social structures, our traditions have repeatedly been smashed and destroyed. What has never ever been taken from us is the Persian language and the crystallization of the Persian language in poetry. This intangible cultural heritage we hold on to because it is something that has never been taken from us and cannot be taken from us and I think that is a key perhaps to this wonderful continuing tradition and it is a continuing tradition, you meet poetry wherever you go in the Persian speaking world and remember that the Persian speaking world has always been much faster than the political limits of Iran today. Now you need some water. Well we'll get the wine afterwards. As was already mentioned for many westerners the entrance into this world of Persian poetry is the translations that were done some in English going back quite a way certainly Sir William Jones in the 18th century who first prepounded the theory of Indo-European languages in a speech in the 1780s to the Bengal Asiatic Society linking Persian, Russian, Greek, Latin, French, Welsh, he was Welsh, he was a judge in the High Court in Calcutta but also notably Goethe when he encountered the translations of Josef von Hammer Puachstahl who was the court translator of Ottoman Turkish but also of Persian for the court in Vienna and was ennobled for his services. He translated selections of oriental literature which Goethe read and transmuted into this beautiful divan of his own Germany poetry called The West Urslicher Divan some of which was set to music later by Schubert and Schumann and I was lucky enough to have a wonderful tutor at Oxford who introduced us to this and that made me determined to find out more about Persian literature and so I went to teach in Isfahan in the autumn of 1978 which was an interesting time to be in Iran and a poem we will come across in a few moments when Narges reads it was the first poem that I was taught by my students Sohrab Sepehri's Haan-e-Dust Kojast whereas my friend's house and for any Iranians in the audience will know this poem very well. Also a friend, Shirin Derganitafti who was a fellow teacher at Isfahan University introduced me to the passage from the Mantekotter that Narges has just read about the journey across the seven valleys of initiation into deeper and deeper aspects of the spiritual journey When I went to India to renew my visa Isfahan University had forgotten ever to get me a visa so every three months I had to go outside the country and come back with a new tourist visa so I took the chance to go and swim in the lake at Pushkar in Rajasthan where I met an Iranian traveler who taught me my first two quadrains of Qayam and of course one, now that I'm 67, is still very relevant افصوص که نامه جوانی تی شد وان تازه بحاره زندگانی دی شد حالی که برا نام جوانی گفت ایند معلوم نشد که که امادو که شد الاس the scroll of youth is rolled up finished از تندر فرش سپرنگ تایم و لائف has turned into dry winter that moment we called youth we never realized when it came or when it went نیامه پر ایند ایند ایند جوانین توتنی at the lake of Pushkar was something I often remember when I travel if I'm getting tired and haven't reached the end of the day with somewhere to sleep which has happened to me on occasions when I've ridden across Afghanistan on horseback ای کاش کجای آرمیدن بودی یا این را هدور را رسیدن بودی یا از پسی ساد هزار سال از ایرخاک چون سبزی اومید بردمیدن بودی now this which casts doubt on the certainty of the resurrection is one of the reasons why اخونز کلیجی اویلی پکر بخیام with امور with them فاتنگs ام out اولاری میں کمون کنábت کدر او را هم هست او او one way there enemy thing them for this endless road او اولی ا nn دینه نیام هیییی اون ا Mile ا formulas اوه رو 것도 روgres رو قراز نایمenseful بحقیده چیزه چیزه برای داید بایدن. اینه چیزه برای افتاد بردید شیراز بردید نقید. اگر بردید بود شنگ که سره که دنید و در بایدن. قرام اینه چیزه بردید بردید. اینجا برای برای هم کنید که شنگید برای بردید و ثمانید، گ feito Rong brutal in a car tire and since we could say that we were very like nobody got a ten car tires having taken the others with the arms until he walked through the crowd who were perfectly friendly. I mean didn't matter who were English and it was a revolutionary crowd. They were hospitable Iranian selves and they were angry in other ways. و Zipl west to Hindi勝. Yogit,ید همهای Julian monsieur pakaiSoundqué ر ازcommizinسطور نادار بِاردیش than we spend the early 1980's in England. اوانیج, ابرزیت استمدیش از ماونیر امار وی داردیش certaines الدرشان والنا بای داریم moment سیدد، این بیشپ، این بیشپ، های بیشپ، theninstrum had been ambushed and murdered in Tehran on his way to teach at the university, and I had to bring his corpse back from Behesh-e Zahra to Isfahan. ویشپ، اولد آفهست، ردام، رﷺ منه های بهتا بیشپ، آفهست ردام، برید انقصار باقرا این واقعه با رای بگر اس طرح ربی트. امام از روزان و از روزان. و این از این درازه درزای عاددی که از بلادنی از حلوانید انو بردنید بله روزان. بیشب درگر نیتافیته که بردنید که بودن از بردن شمال. که برای درازه درازدی از باردنید. بردنید از بردنید بردنید سکتونه. پرانما بهترم بگیر به این باسم ایمید روении رو در حروقت see theind and saw the bedroom which was full pitted with gunfire, ونهر جا کم بدیی گایدس را دوشم خیلی کلاشنی کنجای را قصوارره. ي Vinner trun hnear herself over the bishop, اونه تشرب و شمعشت خیلی بگیر باکنه باکنه بار است, ویوه که جنود کس چیبه که بیلیان بیرت شروف خلی، ایندی رو بیرا از ایندی که زیاده کنمیری در اوندی مردی سن کامید. نا ایندی همه به رو کامید. ایندی آفار، ای در شد ویمبلدن، ایندی از ماستد. مار بیدین دار، نا بی هیشمات و جه آمدی. هنگ باده هدسی این جا بی پنه آمدی. و ایندی کنم کنی، زیاده از قلاعی یا اشمه. بایدانه تا درت بیکر بیکر بیشت. برای تا دروزی تا بیکر رفج در نگارند. بایدانه بایدان به که برای تا این بیرد رو اینکه نیست، بایدانه برانیم بایدانه بایدانه بایدان. و پروشتا برانیم، بیطورتهای لین، رخ رویمانزلی اشکیم، و سرحا ده ادام، تا بیقلیمه وجود، خطم حواری با دیخودید، دعناه شابهون مشروعون برای رو آما دیگه دستام. و Organized as an enormous age of love. و در در در زهه آدم روزی من بقیر بایدن μέمت تو، خطم حواری با دیگه دارست شبانم ابله، به اسم قاعد اصبنه, از افراده ساسا داردیت از قاعیهی من افراده، از افراده، پوضید از واقع، دماردهOne of Harfèz از قاعدیت بردیت، انگه وانت مهده هی میکنه وردیت، از افراده از افراده وانت مکنگمیم است. بعد دورا وکرام ویرخیده و مقمام بادیت و سماویق سشم겨یم و افراده و افراده نرده تا بگیر. نهاره بگرس ردا each one of them was a little bit uncertain as to what would happen. When I'd lived in Iran teaching at the university up from 78 to 1980 my students called me Behrouz. The Afghans couldn't pronounce Behrouz so they often pronounced it... Bihrouz means unfortunate rather than lucky. So let's make it into Fyruz or Pyrouz. در افکانز نمیز فیروز and ارانز نمیز به خروز, and I asked before setting off into the relative wilderness of Afghanistan عفز فار، and this is what came. بسحرارو که دامن خبار, خبار قم بحفشانی, بگولزار آی که زبول بل، غزل گفتن بیاموزی، چو امکانه خلود ایدل، در این فیروزی ایوان نیست، مجال ایش فرسات دن، بفیروزی با بهروزی. اوانا به این این ایند روز اینجاسات، مراه، بسیر و سفر، ناسیم و با دمو سلا و آ بتروقنا با رد. بخودی اینجاست، نا در درود دهن، پر حيان پر خوشا کند ولید. و دن قراردو، دل اتنون شماب ذکرار دردر خرار، خداف روزی دارد. و همهش نگامات دردر. و دن، ببلا برای و اینجاست ، میترین پردر. با رو با سباتی ملیدار دیپر than just minding him for, as it were, consolation or reassurance in the tribulations of life. با آیا ب⃘ believe it's a wonderful, much more than just a society game, اوس بود جانر بود گایت که باسی کاری کب ایشون کاری کب نمی نیندی کاری که ها دارو و ایشون کنن کار باسی کب باسی کاری کب نمی نیندی کاری کب کوری کپ کاری کنی داری کنی کاری کب باسی کربند. همکه یک کتادم در حالت آنما برنام که از بکمدار روزان هواستا از باقیان. پر تقاونی که یک افغان، او این میخیل با شاده روزان این برزان مجموش هواست، اصلا به اون از دوار که از بیاه مجموشای. Hause بیطر حالا و اصلا آن بارد آن، اخو کشه با دا به افغان، ادوان مجموش که برد برسون را بیون. آفگان استان، تجیک استان، سیتیز او سیترل اجه، ایران تو دنیگ رو از خطان میره بواجه از این بود را مانده و دنیگ یود رو به تق Organization رو دنیگ و سرادزهار در سرادز مخصور دیرفت رو امامو امامو امامو بود را ممنون را باید و افگان فرنز و افگان دلت رو اوه دفعا دارس دنه. با در اوه اون که امام شکریمی، اوه ایندارم در جلالا باود باید في جگدالک، کماندر اوه مجا هیدین کلد آنوار، اوه اوه افگانستان و در اوه باه رسلر، ایند بگید با ایمان ایمان با اندارatoد، و اندا این اشترا بایرت پوهمی داریمان بایت با سیده خود با اییز تیگیت میخماید، با فيرد بیار بیاند، بیار رو تیگیت بایت، و ہیشان استیز میخماید ایمان پشمک با پوردی و از يسرف از محجل و کمینگی داریمان بگید، و دوستان شرح پرشانی من گوش کنید، داستان اغم پنحانی من گوش کنید، قسی بیسرو سمانی من گوش کنید، کفتی گویو من و حیرانی من گوش کنید، شرح این آتاش جنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، شرح این آتاش جن سوز نگفتان، سوختم، سوختم، این رالز نهفتان، تاکه، و میره فرنز، دوستان کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کن آنا این pick up، دوستان بژرار منu شلنش بو extending you this soul burning love stuff کنoren jewels کنید، کنندوشه دوستان، کنیدت، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، کنید، پوشید چون جان میروی اندرمیان جان امان سرب خرامان امانی ایرونب بستان امان چون میروی بیمن مرو ای جان جان بیتن مرو و از چشمه من بیرون مشه ای مشعل تابان امان هفت آسمان را بردرم و از هفت دریابوگ زرم چون دل بران بینگری در جان سرگردان امان تا آمدی اندر برم شد کفر و ایمن چاکرم ای دیدن تو دین امان و ایروی تو ایمن امان از لطفی تو چون جان شدم و از خیشتن پنهان شدم ای هستی تو پنهان شده در هستی پنهان امان ایدن like the spirit you slip into my soul you are my waving cypress the splendor of my garden when you withdraw do not go without me oh quintessential spirit do not go without the body do not vanish from my sight oh my blazing glory when you glance so lovingly at my distracted soul I swim the seven seas I fly the seven skies when you come into my embrace both faith and denial are enslaved to see you is my faith your lovely face is my religion I am spiritualized through your grace hidden from myself and in my hidden self is blended your subtle being now of course this can be read as the most beautiful love poem and it's very sensual but it has a whole spiritual dimension and sometimes it helps also to think of the circumstances in which a poem is written unless one is tempted to read it too literally as an erotic love poem it was actually composed when Molana was attending his beloved son-in-law Salah Dine who had married one of his daughters who predeceased Molana and it was written at his deathbed so what Molana is talking about is spiritual friendship even though the language is so rich that could easily be interpreted also as a sensual love poem so the polyvalence of the Persian poetic tradition is something always to be aware of now my main discovery from my Afghan friends was a poet who represents the complex Sab Kehendi style Mirza Abdul Qader Bidel who was from a Turkish family of soldiers in the Mogul army and then retired to become a philosopher, Sufi and poet in Delhi and is very much inspired by the Safid poet Sa'ib Sa'ib Ita Brizzi from Isfahan but some of his poems are sung by Afghan singers and he has actually a great reputation in Tajikistan and in Central Asia as well probably slightly less in Iran the Shafi Kehendi did write a beautiful book called Shair e Aineha about Bidel but something really sticks with me about this slightly obstruse but very beautiful imagery of this Qazal Bidel Range zindigi bermá nisti govarakerd zin mohit pukzastan dar nazar poli darad می کشد از یران را از گیامت ان سو تر شاهد امال بیدل تورفکا کولی دارد ام the translation by my friend this poetic translation which we did together Robert Maxwell and I produced a small book in 2011 of poems he translates with us the prospect of non-being helps us swallow life's suffering to escape this imprisoning world the virtual bridge can take us hence beyond even resurrection we prisoners are led by that beautiful youth hope and his provocative loveliness I think hope is something we must never give up on our journey thank you very much to continue but we promised to end on note of contemporary poets and in order to save time I won't go through the long I forgot to introduce myself my name is Nargis Farzat and I teach Persian here senior fellow in Persian and I wear another hat as the current chair of centre for Iranian studies and I do have a habit of treating the audience as my students so I'll stop now and go straight to this poem I've chosen two poems for you one as Bruce John mentioned is the very famous Neshani in Persian by Sohrab Seferi an extraordinary poet, a painter a poet, a thinker and a very good writer who very sadly died at the age of 52 in about 1980 an extraordinary man and his complete works are in hashed kitab seven books and the poem Neshani is sandwiched between two other poems Peyram Mahiha and Hichistan and we often read Neshani on its own but it really is a conversation it's a sort of a call and response poem between the poetic voice and the divine that he is trying to seek and I then follow with one other poem by Fatemi Shams who I absolutely and beholden to an extraordinary young female poet and first class scholar who we have sadly lost in this country she now is in Philadelphia teachers there so Bruce and Sarah are going to help me with the translations so if I get my poems together so first Peyram Mahiha رفت بودم سر حوز تا ببینم شاید اکسطن های خودرا در آب آب در حوز نبود ماهیان می گفتند هیچ تقسیر درختان نیست زهر دمکردی تا بستان بود پسر روشن آب لب پاشویین شاست و اغال بخورشید آمدورا به حواب بورد که بورد تو اگر در تپش باق خودا را دیدی همت کن و بگو ماهیها حوزشان بی آب است بود می رفت بسر وقت چنار مام بسر وقت خودا می رفتم روشن بودیش روزید که ایجا بودید خودا را در تب در آب در تا پشن باقید کنید خودا روشن بودید اگه اگر در تا باقید اکد از از نمید از در خودا روشن but there was hardly any in the pond. The fishes said, it's not the fault of the trees. Summer's noon was boiling hot. Water's shimmering child is playing where the water slides over the edge. The sun, eagle-like, dived, caught it, lifted it, into the air, high and far away. If you see god in the heartbeat of the garden, اینکه سرانیدار رویده بله. رویده برهیده سرانیدار رویده بله اینکه به. خانه دوست کجاست. در فلاق بود که پرسید صور. آسیمان ماکزي کرد. رحگوزر شاقه نوری که به لبداشت بتاری کی شنها بخشید. و به ان گوشت نشان داد سپیداری و گفت نرسید بدرخت كوچه با غیست که از خواب خدا سبستر است و دران اشق به اندازه پرحای سداقت آبیست میروی تاته ان کوچه که از پشت بلوغ سرب در می آرد پس به سمت گول تنهای می پیچی دو قدم مند به گول پای فاوری جاوید از آساتی ره زمین می مانی و تورا ترسی شفاف فرامی گیرد در سمیمییت سیال فضا خشخشی می شنوی کودی که می بینی رفت از کاوجه بولندی بالا جوجه بردارد از لانی نور و ازومی پرسی خانی دوست کجاست خانی دارد در از ازلون در از ازبان بودان کرد که از از به گول می الو که به کنی در از از ومان به کنی در سمیز از در اسم از آسید بان شدند سه کامد از کزد موضوع مهنکی از از بارمی از از از بارمی نامين این نام؟ بریسن اگر منم موضوع رو مکنز قاعدی ام با هم بیدی رو دو در اندرس در سطران و رو از همه شاهده چیز ترونده اینجون با کنب، هم خوشت رو از جلائی در از دل اندرس در رویم اوم آرینو ریمند که از بیدی رکه با که با کنب معایت ترونند combines و اين اندرسون برای برشت بید رو که کلوسی جانه از معایتخوشا اگر رمین کاربرز دید after سفهری and I have no idea that he would have ever heard this poem, left off the highway and down the hill at the bottom hang another left keep bearing left the road will make a Y left again there is a creek on the left keep going just before the road ends there will be another road take it and no other otherwise your life will be in the same road life will be ruined forever there is a log house with a shake roof on the left it's not that house it's the next house just over a rise the house where trees are laden with fruit where flocks for cypher and marigold grow it's the house where the woman stands in the doorway wearing the sun in her hair the one who's been waiting all this time the woman who loves you the one who can say what kept you so again and then so I broke the chain so he has gone off looking for God and I think this is where the sort of response and call comes and the next the third poem in this trilogy به سراغ من اگر می آید پوشت هی چستانم پوشت هی چستان جایست پوشت هی چستان رگ ها یه حوا پور قاصد ها ایست که خبر می آرند از گوله واشوده دور ترین بوته خاک تا نسیم اتشی در بن برگی به دود زنگ باران به سداو می آید به سراغ من اگر می آید نرم آه است بیاید مباداو که ترک بردارد چینی نوزو که تند هایی من جاست ان دستامک but it also adheres to this tradition of Ghazal writing the lyrical ode that is as popular as ever and Sarah will read the English for you شوردی در ان شب وحشت سده تنپوشه تو بودم زیر لگد و فوش تو اوریان و منوریان خونه و چکانه تن بیهوشه تو بودم افتاودی و آرام نگاهه تو فرور ایخت انگار که سد سال فراموشه تو بودم وقتی که ترا بردند یک نقمه یک امگین در یا پریهای خاموشه تو بودم یک بقز ترک خرده یا آرام میانه پرفنده یتا خرده و مخدوشه تو بودم هر چند ترادار کشیدند ازیزم در حافظه یا اکس هماغوشه تو بودم