White Doves

Posted on February 17, 2013 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Pombas Brancas

Translation:

White doves
Flying high
Scratching the shadows
Of the large clouds
There they go
Doves that do not return

They bring within
Their wings
In rosy beaks
Scattered clouds
On the sea
Doves of my singing

Merely singing
Various recollections
Coming on the paths
Nobody knows
Where they go
The Doves that do not return

Original:

Pombas brancas
Que voam altas
Riscando as sombras
Das nuvens largas
Lá vão
Pombas que não voltam

Trazem dentro
Das asas prendas
Nas bicos rosas
Nuvens desfeitas
No mar
Pombas do meu cantar

Canto apenas
Lembranças várias
Vindas das sendas
Que ninguém sabe
Onde vão
Pombas que não voltam

Lyrics and Translation from LyricsTranslate.com

Eye Adaba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XEKOW51nkc

Translation:

The day has dawned, the day has dawned upon me

In this land, the day has dawned, I see hope

White Dove, White Dove

That flies high, high above the sky

Come land on me

The Day has dawned, I see hope

Speak so we can hear you

White Dove, White Dove

That flies high, high above the sky

Come land on me

The Day has dawned, I see hope

Original:

Oju mo ti mo
Oju mo ti mo mi
Ni le yi o o
Oju mo ti mo – mo ri re o

Eye abada
Eye adaba
Eye adaba ti n fo l’oke l’oke ori orun
Wa ba le mi o o
Oju mo ti mo mo ri re o

E wi ki’n gbo se

Eye abada
Eye adaba
Eye adaba ti n fo lo ke lo ke
Wa ba le mi o o
Oju mo ti mo, mo ri re o

Gentle Now, Doves of the Thicket

Gentle now,
doves of the thornberry and moringa thicket,
don’t add to my heart-ache
your sighs.

Gentle now,
or your sad cooing
will reveal the love I hide
the sorrow I hide away.

I echo back, in the evening,
in the morning, echo,
the longing of a love-sick lover,
the moaning of the lost.

In a grove of tamarisks
spirits wrestled,
bending the limbs down over me,
passing me away.

They brought yearning,
breaking of the heart,
and other new twists of pain,
putting me through it.

Who is there for me in Jám’,
and the Stoning-Place at Miná,
who for me at Tamarisk Grove,
or at the way-station of Na’mān?
Hour by hour
they circle my heart
in rapture, in love-ache,
and touch my pillars with a kiss.

As the best of creation
circled the Ka’ba,
which reason with its proofs
called unworthy,

And kissed the stones there –
and he was the Natiq!
And what is the house of stone
compared to a man or a woman?

They swore, and how often!
they’d never change – piling up vows.
She who dyes herself red with henna
is faithless.

A white-blazed gazelle
is an amazing sight,
red-dye signalling,
eyelids hinting,

Pasture between breastbones
and innards.
Marvel,
a garden among the flames!

My heart can take on
any form:
a meadow for gazelles,
a cloister for monks,

For the idols, sacred ground,
Ka’ba for the circling pilgrim,
the tables of the Torah,
the scrolls of the Qur’án.

I profess the religion of love;
wherever its caravan turns along the way,
that is the belief,
the faith I keep.

Like Bishr,
Hind and her sister,
love-mad Qays and his lost Láyla,
Máyya and her lover Ghaylán.

-Ibn ‘Arabi

(trans. Michael Sells)

from: http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/poemtarjuman11.html

Original:

ألا يا حَماماتِ الأراكَة ِ والبَانِ ترَفّقْنَ لا تُضْعِفْنَ بالشجوِ أشجاني
ترَفّقْنَ لا تُظهرنَ بالنّوح والبُكا خفيَّ صباباتي ومكنونَ أحزاني
أُطارحُها عند الأصيلِ وبالضحى بحنَّة ِ مشتاقٍ وأنَّة ِ هيمانِ
تَنَاوَحَتِ الأرواحُ في غَيضَة ِ الغَضا فمالتْ بأفنانٍ عليَّ فأفناني
وجاءتْ منَ الشَّوقِ المبرَّحِ والجوى ومن طُرَفِ البَلْوَى إليّ بأفْنانِ
فمَن لي بجمعٍ والمحصَّب مِن مِنًى ومَنْ لي بِذاتِ الأثْلِ مَنْ لِي بنَعْمان
تطوفُ بقلبي ساعة ً بعدَ ساعة ٍ لوَجدٍ وتبريحٍ وتَلثُمُ أركاني
كما طاف خيرُ الرُّسلِ بالكعبة ِ التي يقولُ دليلُ العقْلِ فيها بنُقصَانِ
وقبّلَ أحجاراً بها، وهو ناطقٌ وأينَ مَقامُ البيتِ من قدرِ إنسانِ
فكَم عَهِدَتْ أن لا تحولَ وأقسمتْ وليس لمخضوبٍ وفاءٌ بأيمانِ
ومنْ أعجبِ الأشياءِ ظبى ُ مبرقعُ يشيرُ بعنَّابٍ ويومي بأجفانِ
ومَرعاهُ ما بينَ التّرائِبِ والحَشَا ويا عَجَباً من روضة ٍ وَسَطَ نيرانِ
لقدْ صارَ قلبي قابلاً كلَّ صورة ٍ فمَرْعًى لغِزْلاَنٍ وديرٌ لرُهْبانِ
وبَيْتٌ لأوثانٍ وكعبة ُ طائفٍ ، وألواحُ توراة ٍ ومصحفُ قرآنِ
أدينُ بدينِ الحبِّ أنَّى توجَّهتْ رَكائِبُهُ فالحُبُّ ديني وإيماني
لنا أُسْوَة ٌ في بِشْرِ هندٍ وأُخْتِهَا وقيسٍ وليلى ، ثمَّ مي وغيلانِ

Carminho-Silence is never empty

Posted on February 11, 2013 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Nunca é silêncio vão

Translation:

Silence is never empty
When it is between you and me.
Thinking about whatever may be
All I know is I feel love
When you’re silent with me

Here we are the two of us
Holding hands inside my car
You alway console me that way
Silent, next to me
Watching as I sweep sad things away

And though you might be able to explain
What happens in the heart
Truly everything comes from nothing,
In your silent glance
There is never an empty silence

Original:

Nunca é silencio vão
Esse que tenho contigo.
Pensando nós no que for
Só sei que sinto o amor
Quando te calas comigo.

E lá ficamos os dois
De mãos dadas no meu carro.
Consolas-me sempre assim
Calado junto de mim
Vendo as tristezas que varro.

E por mais que explique bem
O que vai no coração,
É do nada que vem tudo,
Nesse teu olhar tão mudo
Nunca há silencio vão.

translation and lyrics from: http://lyricstranslate.com

Beg for Love.

Consider this burning, and those who

burn, as gifts from the Friend.

Nothing to learn.

Too much has already been said.

When you read a single page from

the silent book of your heart,

you will laugh at all this chattering,

all this pretentious learning.

-Abu Sai’d Abu’l Khayr

It speaks to me in the silence of this one

then through the words of that one speaking;

it whispers to me through an eyebrow raised

and the message of an eye winking.

And do you know what words it breathes into my ear? It says,

“I am Love: in heaven and earth I have no place;

I am the Wondrous Phoenix whose spoor cannot be traced.

With eyebrow-bow and arrow-winks I hunt

both worlds — and yet my weapons cannot be found.

Like the sun I brighten each atom’s cheek;

I cannot be pinpointed: I am too manifest.

I speak with every tongue, listen with all ears,

but marvel at this: My ears and tongue are erased.

Since in all the world only I exist

above and below, no likeness of me can be found.”

-Fakhr ad-Din Iraqi

Secretly we spoke,

that wise one and me.

I said, Tell me the secrets of the world.

He said, Shh… Let silence

Tell you the secrets of the world.

-Rumi

Camaron, Me, and ‘Attar

Posted on February 11, 2013 by sulaymanibnqiddees

El Padre Santo de Roma

Translation:

Lailolailolailo, Leilo …

Holy Father in Rome,
I have to ask
if the sins that I have
if the sins I have,
if the sins I have,
can they be forgiven?

I’m like a sad bird
that goes from branch to branch,
singing its suffering,
singing its suffering,
because it doesn’t know how to cry.

Oh how beautiful are the flowers,
the cheerful spring
with its divine colors.
You are the sea,
I am the sand,
I’ll go with you,
wherever you want.

Europe’s Chapel,
Europe’s Chapel,
overlooking the bay
so pretty and beautiful,
so pretty and beautiful,
the fields of Andalusia.

You are the sea,
I am the sand,
I’ll go with you,
wherever you want.

Original:

Lailolailolailo, leilo…

Al Padre Santo de Roma,
le tengo que preguntar
si los pecados que tengo
si los pecados que tengo,
si los pecados que tengo,
me los puede perdonar.

Soy cómo el pájaro triste,
ay que de rama en rama va,
cantando su sufrimiento,
cantando su sufrimiento,
porque no sabe llorar.

{Olé, Paco}

Ay qué bonitas están las flores,
de la alegre primavera
con sus divinos colores.
Tú eres la mar,
yo soy la arena,
yo voy contigo,
dónde tú quieras.

De la Capilla de Europa,
de la Capilla de Europa,
se divisa la bahía
más bonita y más hermosa,
ay más bonita y más hermosa,
de la vega Andalucía.

Tú eres la mar,
yo soy la arena,
yo voy contigo,
dónde tú quieras.

You forged these chains and set me free
I’m your dream, you’re my memory
Don’t forget me, I beg you please
My darkness, light, health and disease

My love is yours, so yours is mine
So lift my ore out of this mine
Don’t leave me shrouded in my mind
Love flows behind the clouds of time

Only my death will end our war
My perfections stain your faults
My waves will crash upon your shore
Until your rocks become my salt

دلم دردى كه دارد با كه گويد

To whom can my heart speak of its pain

To whom can I repent, for I’ve sinned again?

Alas! Isn’t there a sympathetic freind

who would welcome my bad luck?

When you spoke to me of abandonment

you were a dying person describing death

Why should one wash their hands of you when

they’re not full at the table of your union?

My heart sees your face through a hundred walls;

it breathes your scent from a hundred leagues

I won’t forget the rose of your union

otherwise the thorns will grow upon my grave

Today the grief of ‘Attar’s heart

speaks or is silent by your decree

-‘Attar

Original:

دلم دردی که دارد با که گوید گنه خود کرد تاوان از که جوید
دریغا نیست همدردی موافق که بر بخت بدم خوش خوش بموید
مرا گفتی که ترک ما بگفتی به ترک زندگانی کس بگوید
کسی کز خوان وصلت سیر نبود چرا باید که دست از تو بشوید
ز صد بارو دلم روی تو بیند ز صد فرسنگ بوی تو ببوید
گل وصلت فراموشم نگردد وگر خار از سر گورم بروید
غم درد دل عطار امروز چه فرمایی بگوید یا نگوید

Carminho-My love, the sailor

Posted on November 7, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

I feel jealous
Of the green waves of the sea
That insistently try to kiss
your body, as you stand before the tides.
I feel jealous
Of the wind that betrays me
Kissing you as you stand in the bow,
And runs away through the deck.
I feel jealous
Of the light of the full moon
That curls up around your body
In order to dance with you
I feel jealous
Of the waves that rise along your way
and of the mermaids that sing
That sing to charm you
Oh sailor, my love
Oh lord of my desires
Don’t let the moon at night
Steal the color from your hair
Don’t look at the stars
Because they would steal
The green of your eyes
These eyes color of the sea.

(translation from here)

Original:

Tenho ciúmes,
Das verdes ondas do mar
Que teimam em querer beijar
teu corpo erguido às marés.
Tenho ciúmes
Do vento que me atraiçoa
Que vem beijar-te na proa
E foge pelo convés.
Tenho ciúmes
Do luar da lua cheia
Que no teu corpo se enleia
Para contigo ir bailar
Tenho ciúmes
Das ondas que se levantam
E das sereias que cantam
Que cantam p’ra te encantar.
Ó meu “amor marinheiro”
Amor dos meus anelos
Não deixes que à noite a lua
Roube a côr aos teus cabelos
Não olhes para as estrelas
Porque elas podem roubar
O verde que há nos teus olhos
Teus olhos, da côr do mar.

Quevedo-Love Constant Beyond Death

Posted on November 6, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Amor Constante Mas Allá de la Muerte

(Love Constant Beyond Death)
By Francisco de Quevedo

Translation by A.Z. Foreman

That terminal shadow may with darkness seal
my eyes shut when it steals white day from me,
and in an instant, flattering the zeal
of this my eager soul, let it go free.
But on this hither shore where once it burned
it shall not leave behind love’s memory.
My flame can swim chill waters. It has learned
to lose respect for laws’ severity.

This soul that was a god’s hot prison cell,

veins that with liquid humors fueled such fire,

marrows that flamed in glory as I strove

shall quit the flesh, but never their desire.

They shall be ash. That ash will feel as well.

Dust they shall be. That dust will be in love.

Original:

Cerrar podrá mis ojos la postrera
sombra que me llevare el blanco día,
y podrá desatar esta alma mía
hora a su afán ansioso lisonjera;

mas no de essotra parte, en la riuera,
dexará la memoria, en donde ardía:
nadar sabe mi llama l’agua fría,
y perder el respeto a lei severa.

Alma qu’a todo un dios prissión ha sido,
venas qu’umor a tanto fuego an dado,
medulas qu’an gloriosamente ardido,

su cuerpo dexarán, no su cuydado;
serán ceniça, mas tendrá sentido;
polvo serán, mas polvo enamorado.

Cristina Branco

Translation:

Not birds, nor stars, nor sails

Are as beautiful in my breast

Daybreak falls silent in my eyes

The night enveloped me so

With this pain as if from a dagger

With this cry of a love without end

Love without end, love without time and measure

Water drawn from the distance from its source

Light that dawns without dimming

Love that wants to be a breeze but is a gale

Love that wants to be rain but is a storm

It is all or nothing and everything there is to lose.

Original:

Nem pássaros, nem astros, nem veleiros

São tão belos dentro do meu peito

Calou-se a madrugada nos meus olhos

Por isso a noite me envolveu assim

Com esta dor que é asa de punhal

Com este grito de um amor sem fim

Amor sem fim, amor sem tempo e sem medida

Água que brota ao longe da nascente

Luz que amanhece sem anoitecer

Amor que quer ser brisa e é vendaval

Amor que quer ser chuva e é temporal

Que é tudo ou nada e tudo há de perder

‘Attar and Carminho

Posted on October 27, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

The Soul’s Dilemma

Once again, each day,

I travel the path of your love

Every night without fail

I mourn your absence anew.

My soul lacks the courage

to love one

such as you-

and my heart lacks the strength

to abandon you too

-‘Attar

From Love’s Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition. New World Library, 2006.

I wrote your name on the wind…

Translation of lyrics:

I wrote your name in the wind

Convinced that I was writing it

Upon the page of oblivion

That was lost in the wind (x 2)

And when I saw it still buried

In the dust of the road

I thought my heart was free

From the bonds of your affection (x 2)

Poor me, I had no idea

That just like me

The wind would fall in love

With that name of yours

And as the wind tosses and turns

so does my torment

I want to forget you, believe me

But there is more and more wind

I whispered your name to the wind

It set the trees’ leaves all aflame

They fell, spelling your name in dust

Which then lept up to dance and sing

And when the dust fell down dead tired

The earth’s heart split in longing pain

And when the sky asked earth what’s wrong?

The ground could only groan your name

And then the clouds welled up with tears

The lovesick sky began to rain

Then sun scattered the clouds but when

He saw what the sky’s tears contained

He flushed with love, fainted away

And only the dark night remained

The moon woke up and asked the stars

About the sunlight’s dying flame

They winked and all whispered your name

The moon blushed black, and closed his eyes

His image in the ocean sighed

The sea’s smooth surface heaved and writhed

As whales wept with the mourning tide

And then the Moon’s heart broke in two

One piece is me, one piece is you

And I swear by your name it’s true

I’ve seen just what your name can do

Songs from Andalus

Posted on October 13, 2012 by sulaymanibnqiddees

Fado: Casa de Fados

(from Carlos Saura’s film Fados)

Lyrics (from the film’s subtitles):

First singer:

A lost friendship can never return

It’s a forged firendship

That jokingly comes and goes

It’s a forged friendship

that jokingly comes and goes

No one gives a thing

If behind that gesture there is no value

Only a friend can give love without receiveing

Second:

My mother I sing tonight

For the day has punished me

And in the silence of things

I find a friendly voice

And in the silence of things

I find a friendly voice

My mother I cry tonight

for the love I am drowning in

For the words of life

Have no other world

For I am this song

Mother, So hurt

I wear this body at night

without fate but with fado

I wear this body at night

without fate but with fado

Third:

Maybe fado will tell me what no one wants to say

That is why I chase it so that I may understand myself

My love I have sung

Under the last sky

Because I surrender myself in every last fado as if it were the first

Maybe fado does not ask me for everything I give it

So even when I forget

It does not forget me

So even when I forget

It does not forget me

Carminho (my favorite):

I cried for not seeing you

For seeing you I cry

I cried for not seeing you

For seeing you I now cry

Harder for wanting

Wanting to see you all the time

Time rushes past

When you talk and I listen

But the hours of our life

Each has a moment

Stay beside me

And never leave

So that my heart poor thing

May live life in an hour

So that my heart poor thing

May live life in an hour

Riberio:

Do not be afraid of fame, ill-famed Alfama

Fame sometimes defames good honorable people

Other guy:

Fadistas come with me

Listen to the street fado

And sing a street duel

In a charming ancient quarter

Riberio:

Let’s go as I have said

You will see when the day dawns

How fun the revelry was

In the old Alfama quarter

Do not be afraid of fame ill-famed Alfama

Other guy:

I know of the world you speak

But surely I know wrong

I know what the world is saying

But surely out of spite

For was it always not true

That tales were told?

Many people there lived

Very quiet lives

Which in a spiteful way are muddied

Fame

Sometimes defames

Good honorable people

Flamenco: Camarón-Rosa Maria

(rough translation of the lyrics)

Country Wildflowers
Water from the clear lagoon
That’s how I describe the colors of your face

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

I envy the flowers
the mirror where you look
the brush of your hair
and the air that you breathe
and the air that you breathe

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

She’s joy and beauty
and grace in her walk
and even your laugh is beautiful
and different from the rest

Rosa Maria, Rosa Maria
if you loved me, how happy I would be

Camarón and Paco de Lucia por Siguriyas

Andalusian mawwal: Omar Metioui-El secreto encuentro

Lyrics from Ibn ‘Arabi’s tarjuman al-ashwaq:

ألا يا نسيم الريح بلغ مها نجد بأني على ما تعلمون من العهد

فان كان حقا ما تقول و عندها إليّ من الشوق المبرّح ما عندي

إليها ففي حرّ الظهيرة نلتقي بخيمتها سرا على أصدق الوعد

Beg for Love.

Consider this burning, and those who

burn, as gifts from the Friend.

Nothing to learn.

Too much has already been said.

When you read a single page from

the silent book of your heart,

you will laugh at all this chattering,

all this pretentious learning.

It speaks to me in the silence of this one

then through the words of that one speaking;

it whispers to me through an eyebrow raised

and the message of an eye winking.

And do you know what words it breathes into my ear? It says,

“I am Love: in heaven and earth I have no place;

I am the Wondrous Phoenix whose spoor cannot be traced.

With eyebrow-bow and arrow-winks I hunt

both worlds — and yet my weapons cannot be found.

Like the sun I brighten each atom’s cheek;

I cannot be pinpointed: I am too manifest.

I speak with every tongue, listen with all ears,

but marvel at this: My ears and tongue are erased.

Since in all the world only I exist

above and below, no likeness of me can be found.”

-Fakhr ad-Din Iraqi

Secretly we spoke,

that wise one and me.

I said, Tell me the secrets of the world.

He said, Shh… Let silence

Tell you the secrets of the world.

And then you walked away

With my heart between your lips

Bound to your caprice like

A balloon tied to your wrist

I‘d be lying if I said

that the dark sparks of your eyes

didn’t leap up in my heart

to burn my soul from time to time

I’d be lying if I said

that lightning didn’t dance

throughout my tired veins

when I recall your glance

I’d be lying if I said

that the coral of your lips

didn’t stir up my soul’s waves

and drown my shores in your bliss

I’d be lying if I ever tried

to talk about the truth

the best I have is this sad sigh:

I’m dying and I love you

دلم دردى كه دارد با كه گويد

To whom can my heart speak of its pain

To whom can I repent, for I’ve sinned again?

Alas! Isn’t there a sympathetic freind

who would welcome my bad luck?

When you spoke to me of abandonment

you were a dying person describing death

Why should one wash their hands of you when

they’re not full at the table of your union?

My heart sees your face through a hundred walls;

it breathes your scent from a hundred leagues

I won’t forget the rose of your union

otherwise the thorns will grow upon my grave

Today the grief of ‘Attar’s heart

speaks or is silent by your decree

The Soul’s Dilemma

I wrote your name on the wind…

I whispered your name to the wind

I whispered your name to the wind

It set the trees’ leaves all aflame

They fell, spelling your name in dust

Which then lept up to dance and sing

And when the dust fell down dead tired

The earth’s heart split in longing pain

And when the sky asked earth what’s wrong?

The ground could only groan your name

And then the clouds welled up with tears

The lovesick sky began to rain

Then sun scattered the clouds but when

He saw what the sky’s tears contained