Lesson 20
Conquest of the Garden, a Poem by Forough Farrokhzad
Intermediate
Lesson Infoاطلاعات درس
Conquest of the Garden (Fateh Baq), a poem written and recited here by Forough Farrokhzad, one of the most important figures in twentieh-century Persian poetry.
This article in The Guardian includes recollections and appraisals from those who knew her or admired her work.
According to the journalist Mehdi Jami: "In every culture you have cultural icons, like Shakespeare in Britain. Farrokhzad was like that for contemporary Iran, someone who formed the identity of our contemporariness. She wrote in a simple and intimate way. She was not fake, nor was her poetry. ... She was the last prophet of truth-telling our country has seen."
The poet Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani commented in the same article: "She was very natural. She was the epitome of a real poet in her own time. She had no masks, that's why today we still read her, and in the future we will read her, too."
Video
Tags
Segmentsبخش ها
آن کلاغی که پرید
Persian 1/53
Ān kalāq-i ke parid
That raven that jumped
و فرو رفت در اندیشه‌ی آشفته‌ی ابری ولگرد
Persian 3/53
Va foru raft dar andishe-ye āshofte-ye abr-i velgard
And was drowned in the turbulent thought of a wanderer cloud
و صدایش همچون نیزه‌ی کوتاهیی، پهنای افق را پیمود
Persian 4/53
Va sedā-yash hamchon neyze-ye kutāh-i , pahnā-ye ofoq rā peymud.
And its voice, like a short javelin, traveled the width of the horizon.
خبر ما را با خود خواهد برد به شهر
Persian 5/53
Xabar-e mā rā bā xod xāhad bord be shahr
It would spread [lit: take] the news about us [lit: our news] to the city
که من و تو از آن روزنه‌ی سرد عبوس
Persian 8/53
ke man o to az ān rozane-ye sard-e abus
that you and I, through that cold, sullen aperture
و از آن شاخه‌ی بازیگر دور از دست
Persian 10/53
Va az ān shāxe-ye bāzigar-e dur az dast
And from that hard to reach playful branch
همه میترسند، اما من وتو
Persian 13/53
Hame mitarsand, ammā man o to
Everybody is afraid; but you and I [lit. I and you]
به چراغ و آب و آینه پیوستیم
Persian 14/53
be cherāq o āb o āyene peyvastim
joined the light and water and mirror,
سخن از پیوند سست دو نام
Persian 16/53
Soxan az peyvand-e sost-o do nām
This dialogue [see Note] is not about a frail union of two names
سخن (soxan) is used throughout the poem. سخن literally means a talk, discourse, speech, or dialogue. The poet is essentially saying "This poem..." or "What I am saying...".
و همآغوشی در اوراق کهنه‌ی یک دفتر نیست
Persian 17/53
va ham āqushi dar orāq-e kohne-ye yek daftar nist
and making love in the worn out sheets of a booklet
1. "Daftar" alludes to a marriage certificate, which, in Iran, comes in a form of a booklet. 2. The word نیست (nist - is not) is reflected in the translation of the prior segment.
سخن از گیسوی خوشبخت منست
Persian 18/53
Soxan az gisu-ye xoshbaxt-e man ast
This dialogue is about my blessed hair
خوشبخت is a difficult word to translate as there is no single English word that serves as an equivalent. Semantically, the word can be seen as an amalgam of the following: fortunate, happy, blessed, lucky.
با شقایقهای سوخته‌ی بوسه‌ی تو
Persian 19/53
Bā shaqāyeq-hā-ye suxte-ye buse-ye to
and the burnt anemones of your kisses,
و صمیمیت تنهامان ، در طراری
Persian 20/53
va samimiyat-e tan-hā-mān, dar tarāri
and the intimacy of our bodies in deception
و درخشیدن عریانیمان
Persian 21/53
va deraxshidan-e oryān-i-ye-mān
and our glistening nakedness
مثل فلس ماهی ها در آب
Persian 22/53
Mesle fals-e māhi-hā dar āb
like fish-scales in water.
فلس (fals) is a singular noun. It's translated here as the plural "scales" for the sake of a smoother translation.
سخن از زندگی نقره ای آوازیست
Persian 23/53
Soxan az zendegi-ye noqre'iye āvāz-i-st
This dialogue is about the silvery life of a song
که سحرگاهان فواره‌ی کوچک میخواند
Persian 24/53
ke sahargāh-ān favāre-ye kuchak mixānd
which the little fountain was singing at dawn.
ما در آن جنگل سبزسیال شبی از خرگوشان وحشی
Persian 25/53
Mā dar ān jangal-e sabz-e sayāl shab-i az xargush-ān-e vahsh-i
One night, in that fluid [lit. flowing] green forest, [we asked] the wild rabbits;
The verb پرسیدیم (porsidim - we asked) appears in Segment 29.
و در آن دریای مضطرب خونسرد
Persian 26/53
va dar ān daryā-ye moztareb-e xunsard
and in that agitated, cold-blooded sea,
از صدف های پر از مروارید
Persian 27/53
az sadaf-hā-ye por az morvārid
[we asked] the seashells full of pearl;
و در آن کوه غریب فاتح
Persian 28/53
va dar ān kuh-e qarib-e fāteh
and in that strange triumphant mountain,
از عقابان جوان پرسیدیم
Persian 29/53
az oqāb-ān-e javān porsid-im
we asked young eagles
که چه باید کرد
Persian 30/53
ke che bāyad kard
what should be done?
که (ke) does not belong to the stated question. Semantically, it belongs in the last segment, as که serves to introduce the question. It is equivalent to English "that", which sometimes introduces paraphrased questions in English, as in "I asked that he come to dinner on time." We keep که in this segment in order to remain faithful to the original line structure of the poem.
ما به خواب سرد و ساکت سیمرغان ، ره یافته ایم
Persian 33/53
Mā be xāb-e sard o sāket-e simorq-ān rah yāfte'im
We have found a way into the cold and silent dreams of simurghs.
Simurghs are a mythological creature analogous to phoenixes. wikipedia.org/wiki/Simurgh
ما حقیقت را در باغچه پیدا کردیم
Persian 34/53
Mā haqiqat rā dar bāqche peydā kardim
We found the truth in the (small) garden,
در نگاه شرم آگین گلی گمنام
Persian 35/53
Dar negāh-e sharm āgin-e goli gomnām.
in the shy [lit. shamefull] look of an unknown flower.
و بقا را در یک لحظه‌ی نامحدود
Persian 36/53
va baqā rā dar yek lahze-ye nā mahdud,
and (found) survival in an eternal [lit. unlimited] second,
که دو خورشید به هم خیره شدند
Persian 37/53
ke do xorshid be ham xire shodand.
when two suns gazed at each other.
سخن از پچ پچ ترسانی در ظلمت نیست
Persian 38/53
Soxan az pech pech-e tarsān-i dar zolmat nist.
This dialogue is not about a frightened murmur in the darkness.
سخن از روزست و پنجره های باز
Persian 39/53
Soxan az ruz-ast o panjere-hā-ye bāz,
This dialogue is about daytime and (wide) open windows,
و اجاقی که در آن اشیاء بیهوده میسوزند
Persian 41/53
va ojāq-i ke dar ān ashiyā'e bihude misuzand
and a furnace in which useless things are burning
و زمینی که ز کشتی دیگر بارور است
Persian 42/53
Va zamin-i ke ze keshti digar bārvar ast,
And a land which is fertile for another cultivation,
و تولد و تکامل و غرور
Persian 43/53
va tavalod va takāmol va qorur.
and birth and evolution and pride.
سخن از دستان عاشق ماست
Persian 44/53
Soxan az dast-an-e āsheq-e māst
This dialogue is about our loving [lit. lover] hands,
که پلی از پیغام عطر و نور و نسیم بر فراز شبها ساخته اند
Persian 45/53
ke pol-i az peyqām-e atr o nur o nasim bar farāz-e shab-hā sāxteand.
which have made a bridge of the message of scent and light and breeze over the night
which a bridge of message of scent and light and breeze over the night have made
به چمنزار بیا
Persian 46/53
Be chamanzār biyā,
Come to the meadow,
به چمنزار بزرگ
Persian 47/53
be chamanzāre bozorg.
to the vast meadow.
و صدایم کن ، از پشت نفس های گل ابریشم
Persian 48/53
Va sedā-yam kon az posht-e nafas-hā-ye gol-e abrisham
And call me from behind the breaths of a silk flower,
همچنان آهو که جفتش را
Persian 49/53
Hamchenān āhu ke joft-ash rā
Like a gazelle (that calls) his/her mate.
پرده ها از بغضی پنهانی سرشارند
Persian 50/53
Parde-hā az boqz-i panhān-i sarshār-and
Curtains all filled with a hidden sadness.
و کبوترهای معصوم
Persian 51/53
Va kabutar-hā-ye ma'sum
And innocent pigeons
In English, the word "innocent" has at least two different shades of meaning: 1) innocent in a criminal/legal sense; to be not guilty of a crime, and 2) to be pure and free from sin, as in "an innocent child". In Persian, the word معصوم (ma'sum) is restricted to the latter meaning.
از بلندی های برج سپید خود
Persian 52/53
az bolandi-hā-ye borje sepide xod
from the heights of their white tower.
به زمین مینگرند
Persian 53/53
be zamin minegarand
are looking at the ground [earth].