Layli and Majnun

by Nezami Ganjavi

  But inwardly my soul stays close to you,

  And in the twinkling of an eye, although

  My eyes can’t see you where you’ve had to go,

  No distance now can keep my lovelorn heart

  And all you are and have been far apart,

  And if your outward form has gone from me

  My grieving for you lives eternally.

  I set my heart on you for good, so how

  Could I desert you or forget you now?

  I’ve always longed for you, whether you’re here

  Or not, my longing cannot disappear,

  But then your horse rode on, and to my shame

  I’m hobbling after you, inept and lame;

  You’ve left this ruin, in the gardens of

  Eram178 you feast in everlasting love,

  But when I’ve slipped these chains, in just a few

  Short days I’ll reach that heavenly garden too;

  My loyalty won’t fail before I meet you

  And cry out in delighted joy to greet you,

  But till then may your shroud be purified

  By all the tears of sorrow that I’ve cried.

  May heaven be the everlasting place

  Where you abide surrounded by God’s grace,

  And may your gentle soul forever be

  A lamp whose light shines there eternally.”

  He spoke, and briefly wrung his hands, and then

  Turned round and set off on his way again.

  *

  He headed home, accompanied by a few

  Wild beasts from his attendant retinue;

  And as he went he sang of loyalty

  And love, of lovers’ long fidelity,

  Beating against the wayside stones his head

  That were already red with tears he’d shed.

  But then within his heart he couldn’t bear

  To leave his love alone without him there—

  Swift as a mountain flood he sought once more

  The grave of Layli where he’d wept before,

  And laid his head upon the earth, and kissed it

  A thousand times to show how much he’d missed it,

  Protesting that his love was unabated

  While all his animals kept watch and waited,

  And as he wept and murmured prayers, they made

  Around him a protective barricade,

  Watching the road, and giving no one leave

  To see their weeping master mourn and grieve,

  Ensuring that he wouldn’t be disturbed,

  Not even by an ant, or passing bird.

  Majnun’s days were a black page, with each breath

  He longed to end his life and welcome death;

  His life was like a dog’s, and death would be

  Far preferable to this long misery.

  At times he’d keep watch by her grave and pray,

  At times he’d run distractedly away—

  The world grew small for him, he was alone,

  Living between his love’s grave and his own,

  Until he saw no way ahead but one,

  To sing his life’s farewell, and so be done.

  Salam Baghdadi Comes to Visit Majnun for the Second Time

  Faithful to the Arabian tale he’d read

  The teller of this lovers’ story said:

  *

  Salam Baghdadi had resolved to find

  This man who’d lost his heart and lost his mind;

  Across plains, over mountain passes, he

  Searched for a month for him assiduously,

  But everywhere he rode he could discover

  No sign at all of this notorious lover,

  Till in a valley he caught sight of him

  Seated on stones, with blisters on each limb,

  His body scratched by thorns, his color gone,

  His bony torso pallid now and wan,

  A bird that’s injured, that no longer sings,

  But lies upon the ground with broken wings.

  *

  Majnun soon saw Salam and hailed him: “Hey,

  You there, young man, what’s brought you here today?”

  He answered, “I’m Salam, I’ve come to greet you,

  From far away I’ve traveled here to meet you.”

  Majnun made all his animals retire

  As day drives night away and water fire,

  And then, as soon as he had recognized him,

  Fondly embraced this guest who had surprised him,

  And said, “Why take this trouble when you know

  That I insulted you once, long ago?

  You’re innocent, I’m the sad guilty one,

  Surely I’m someone you’d prefer to shun?

  Given our past, what’s made you want to be

  Associated with a wretch like me?

  But now you’ve come here I can hardly say,

  ‘Be off with you, young man, be on your way!’

  So tell me why you’ve come, and if I can

  Be of some use to you, then I’m your man!”

  Salam replied, “You acted well to me,

  With graciousness, and magnanimity,

  Your kindnesses are my most valued treasure,

  Remembering how you were’s my dearest pleasure,

  And still your poems’ priceless pearls console

  The emptiness within my heart and soul.

  I thought I’d come to ask if I might take

  One more fruit from your tree, for old times’ sake,

  I mean forgiveness for what’s gone before . . .

  If you refuse, I’ll trouble you no more.

  But I’m amazed to see you in this state,

  A flightless bird, alone and desolate.

  You’ve suffered in this past year, I can see,

  You’re not at all the man you used to be,

  Your wings of joy are broken, and you sit

  Groaning and grieving here because of it.

  Tell me what’s happened, and what’s hurting you,

  And how you are, and how your friend is too.”

  *

  And at the mention of his friend, Majnun

  Lost consciousness and fell into a swoon;

  When he revived, he thought of her and cried

  A little while, and then he sorely sighed

  And said, “Never mind me! Who do you mean?

  What friend of mine? Who do you think I’ve seen?

  My only friend lies in the earth. And why

  Should you ask this? Do you want me to lie?

  She is a houri made of loyalty

  And lives in heaven for eternity;

  She’s dead, her lamp’s flame is alive, and I

  Live as though dead and wish that I could die.”

  He talked at length like this about his friend

  As though he read a book that had no end;

  He took Salam’s hand then and gently led

  Him to the grave where Layli lay, and said,

  “Here is my angel-love, and here is where

  My soul succumbed to death and to despair.”

  And when Salam saw all of his distress

  At being friendless now, and comfortless,

  He suffered grief’s contagion and his eyes

  Grew wet as unsought tears began to rise,

  And he too wept a rosy flowing flood

  Of falling tear drops mingled with his blood.

  He answered kindly, since he recognized

  Majnun’s just feelings and he sympathized;

  He said, “Hearing she’s gone, I feel my heart

  Quake like a
ship’s deck as it splits apart,

  I follow you in grief—this thunderbolt

  Struck heavily and hard from heaven’s vault;

  Your face glows with your grief, and I too feel

  A burning sorrow that will never heal.”

  But all his eloquence was salt applied

  To open wounds that were still raw inside.

  *

  Salam stayed with him for a month or two,

  Writing down any poem that was new;

  Ghazals and couplets, fragments, he would jot

  On scraps of paper and preserve the lot.

  And when he’d gathered all that could be had,

  He took them as a wonder to Baghdad.

  Majnun Dies on Layli’s Grave

  The teller of this tale of lovers chose

  These lines of verse to bring it to its close:

  *

  What tears he’d reaped! How small the heavens ground

  His being as their mill-wheels turned around!

  How he had wept, but now he wept far more

  And was far weaker, sicklier, than before;

  As day gives way to night, his soul was on

  The brink of parting, and would soon be gone.

  As though he were a storm-tossed sinking boat

  On pitch-black seas, that could not stay afloat,

  Weeping and wailing now he made his way

  To where the dusty grave of Layli lay,

  And in the dust began to writhe and quake

  As if he were an injured ant or snake.

  He sang a wistful line or two, and shed

  A bitter tear or two, then raised his head

  And gestured with his fingers to the skies

  And as he did so covered his sad eyes,

  And cried: “O Lord, Creator of this earth,

  Great Guarantor of everything of worth,

  Free me from all my sorrow and convey me

  Into the presence of my true friend, Layli,

  Release my grieving soul and speedily

  Bring me to her for all eternity.”

  He sprawled then in the dust, and clutched, and grasped it,

  And in his arms, against his chest, he clasped it,

  And feeling it against his skin he cried,

  “O friend . . .”179 and rendered up his soul, and died.

  He too had left this world, and who is there

  Who doesn’t have to tread this thoroughfare?

  *

  No one avoids the horror that attends

  The moment when oblivion’s highway ends,

  And who is there who can escape the way

  Time moves forever onward day by day?

  The world is like a fire that grills its meat

  And salts the wounds before it deigns to eat—

  No life’s not answerable to sorrow’s laws,

  No face remains unscratched by cruelty’s claws.

  You’re like a lame ass toiling in a mill

  That turns the mill-stone and is never still,

  So quit the mill! But this will happen when

  You quit the world itself, and only then.

  Why linger in this flooded house?180 Don’t wait,

  The flood’s here, leave before it is too late,

  And leave before the heavens have destroyed

  The bridge that carries you across the void.

  There blows, within the navel of the world,

  The wind of nothingness, in which we’re hurled—

  Don’t boast of what you are, since all your life

  Is nothing but that tumult’s windy strife,

  So leave this world, make haste now, don’t delay,

  The caravan’s already on its way.

  This seven-headed dragon181 twists around you

  Till all its writhing, crushing coils, surround you—

  If any part of you should hesitate

  Don’t think you’ll get away now, it’s too late!

  This ancient crone displays her dragon nature,

  She’s all in all this savage dragon’s creature,

  Leave this false world, this foul, notorious thief,

  Light-fingered and unworthy of belief;

  Don’t act unrighteously, you’ll be the one

  Who suffers for the evil things you’ve done,

  Commit your heart to truth, and never fear

  Whatever threats or dangers might appear.

  Get off your high horse, modestly confess

  Your inability, your powerlessness—

  Act humbly, and the lion of death will be

  Your comforter and not your enemy.

  *

  Majnun had left the world, and was now free

  Of others’ ridicule and mockery,

  His eyes were closed now as he slept beside

  The cradled body of his sleeping bride,

  And sleep was like a recompense that cured

  The worldly sorrows that he had endured;

  He lay like this a month at least, I’m sure,

  And some have said it was a year or more.

  His animals had gathered all around him

  And formed a guardian phalanx to surround him,

  As if they were the guards who watch and wait

  Beside a dead king as he lies in state,

  Making his catafalque a place of rest,

  A house of comfort and a kindly nest.

  These guards made passers-by retreat in fear

  Of what might happen if they came too near,

  So that they’d hover round and then hold back

  As if afraid that hornets might attack,

  Thinking the stranger they could see lay there

  For some strange reason that he didn’t share—

  A king perhaps, with posted guards to see

  No one intruded on his privacy . . .

  Not knowing that this stranger “king” was dead.

  Time’s wind had blown his diadem from his head,

  His corpse was drained of blood, and all his bones

  Were scattered pearls dispersed in dust and stones—

  Haphazard bones were all that could be seen

  Of his sad life, and what he once had been.

  No wolf had gnawed these bones, no man could touch

  Majnun’s corpse while his animals kept watch.

  *

  But then a year went by, and one by one

  The watchful guardians of the grave were gone;

  Time passed, as though a lock that had been there

  Was slowly worn away with wear and tear,

  And gradually audacious souls intruded

  And found the grave its guardians had secluded;

  They saw that bones lay there, bones that retained

  No flesh, only the skeleton remained.

  His faithful family came, and they were sure

  This was their son whom they’d been searching for;

  They and his well-wishers, all those bereaved

  By his sad death, approached, and mourned and grieved.

  With aching hearts they tore their clothes and sighed

  For one whom love had harried till he died;

  Their tears rained down like pearls and precious stones

  Upon the white shell of his sun-bleached bones,

  And with their tears they laid within the ground

  The scattered earthly remnants they had found;

  Through Arab lands, his story and his name

  Became love’s emblem and ensured his fame.

  Men made a tomb for him, and at his side

  They laid his Layli as his
longed-for bride;

  She was the lovely cup-bearer who brought

  Her king the wine of love that he had sought.

  They were no longer blamed or scorned, but lay

  In peace, and side by side, till Judgment Day;

  They’d kept one vow on earth, now they were given

  One cradle to be shared by them in heaven.

  *

  A lovely garden was laid out around

  Their earthly resting place and burial ground,

  Unrivaled in its beauty and its fame,

  A garden where the world’s sad pilgrims came;

  And there these votaries of love would find

  Joy was restored to them, and peace of mind,

  No one would leave this garden willingly,

  Only when forced to by necessity.

  *

  O God, since those two left the world still pure

  And chaste, despite their earthly selves, ensure

  They dwell in peace, safe in each other’s love,

  Welcomed with mercy in the world above.

  Zayd Dreams that He Sees Layli and Majnun in Heaven

  Zayd lived for generosity and truth—

  May God look kindly on this noble youth.

  *

  He lingered at the lovers’ grave to grieve

  For those two streams of light, and could not leave,

  But murmured to himself Majnun’s sweet lines,

  Each shining as a splendid ruby shines,

  And eagerly endeavored to discover

  All of the verses written by this lover,

  And in so doing he became the cause

  Of their renown, and well-deserved applause—

  It was through him this lovers’ tale became

  So loved and widespread and achieved such fame.

  *

  Thinking of them one day, he wondered how,

  Beyond the veil, these two were faring now—

  Was the dark earth their home? Had they been given

  A place beside God’s shining throne in heaven?

  Just before dawn, when breezes stir, one night

  As darkness yields to musky morning light,

  Zayd dreamed an angel came and showed him where

  A garden glittered in the lambent air;

  It was a scene whose tall trees’ slender grace

  Made it a happy and enchanted place,

  New gardens could be glimpsed within the roses,

  Each petal could provide a wealth of posies,

  The grass there glowed, to a discerning eye,

  Celestial blue, like heaven’s cloudless sky.

  The garden’s green outshone an emerald’s green,

  No lovelier shade could anywhere be seen.