Drunk

Doctōrī ēbrius meō ōlim dīxī,

“Dē quō nōn est et est fac ut cognoscam.”

Responsum mī tum dedit et dīxit, “Abī;

Turbā cūrās tuās tene et tūtus sīs.”

Translation of Rūmī’s quatrain #1675, Foruzanfar, ed.; 

pg 31 in Houshmand’s Moon and Sun; 

quatrain #1640 in Gamard’s The Quatrains of Rumi.

See blog entry for October 31, 2021 about Latin and Persian poetry. 

استاد مــرا بـگفتم اندر مستی

کاگاهـم کن ز نیستی و هستی

او داد مــرا جــواب گفتا کـه برو

رنج تو ز خلق دور دار و رستی

Ostād-e marā begoftam andar mastī

kāgāham kon ze nīstī vō hastī

ū dād marā jevāb goftā ke borō

ranj-ē to ze xalq dūr dār ō rastī

I told my teacher in drunkenness,

“Make me aware of not-being and being.”

He gave me an answer and said, “Go,

Keep your troubles far from people and you are safe.”

This poem is fairly straighforward, until we get to the last line, which is close-fisted. Close-fisted because it refuses to give up its meaning. Gamard [pg. 510] translates the line as “Keep your harmfulness far from the people and you will gain salvation.” He further claims that this is a paraphrase of one of the sayings of Muhammad about good Muslims not harming other Muslims in word and in deed. Houshmand [pg. 31] bases her translation on a variation of the last line which inserts the word “if” and eliminates “your.”

گـر رنـج ز خلق دور داری رستــی

gar ranj ze xolq dūr dārī rastī

[Literally, if trouble from the people you hold far, you are free.]

Houshmand’s translation is: “Relieve the suffering of the world and you’ll be free.”

Because Houshmand’s text is different, I have nothing to say. But for the text from the editor Foruzanfar—there is room for some discussion. 

The discussion centers around ranj-e to [رنج تو] “your trouble” and rastī [رستی] “you are free.” Ranj means anything from “affliction, distress, suffering” to “torture” and may be etymologically related to our word “languid.” Rastī means “you are free” or “safe” or “you have escaped.” Its distant English cousin may be “rest,” as in “at rest.” The question is two-fold: how do you keep your affliction far from others and why do you want to do so? Is the answer to keep silent so that you won’t be bothered? Or is the answer to keep silent so that your problems don’t interfer with your dealings with other people? In this way you are free to do charitable acts. Gamard and Houshmand might say yes, but I find it hard to go beyond the simple meaning of the words: keep your problem far from people and you are free/safe. Free to do what? Safe to do what? Safe from what? As you can see, I have no answers. The meaning is up to you.

A free translation:

To my teacher I was like all high,

“Clue me in on being and non-being.”

He answered and said, “Go on now,

“Don’t be telling your troubles. You’re free.”