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English translation

When Golrokh saw her nurse had given up her life, lying amidst dust and blood, she could not endure such injustice and humiliation, she raised a cry and lamentation to the world. She tore the hyacinth-colored linen garment on her body, like a rose she tore her shirt. From the blood of her narcissus-like eyes the plain became a rose-garden, the earth turned rose-colored from the dark hue of her eyes. She was wailing and saying, 'O dear one, why did you hasten to depart? Like a ring you laid your head at my door, you sorrowfully gave up your life for my sake. You devoted your heart and soul to my cause, you showed me great loyalty. You were my soul and my world in this universe; since you have left the world, take my life too. You were my comforter in my youth; I do not want to live without you now. You were my companion in every calamity, you were my compassionate friend in every cruelty. Alas, that you did not wet your lips with joy, that you suffered for a lifetime but did not reap the fruits. You were my facilitator and my helper, you were my kind confidante. O Lord, I have died in my youth, for I have grown weary of this life. Though like eyebrows I was joined with joy, separation now deprives me of my companions at every moment. The heavens, out of disloyalty, separate me from my companions every hour. It is no wonder if, like my nurse, my own shadow separates from me. What would it have been if when that kind one departed, my soul had also followed in her footsteps?' When the thieves suddenly saw the face of Golrokh, like a rosebud they smiled at that moon. They looked and saw Hosna was beside her; one was like the sun and the other like a star. They captured those two idols and carried them off, handing them over to the evil-tongued guardians of the fortress. As the thieves headed toward the fortress from the battle, Prince Khosrow made his way up. When the prince reached the ridge, he saw two women fallen on their faces. In humiliation, they saw the two women killed, and two others missing from among them. The three of them agreed together that the wicked thieves had done that deed. 'They killed the two ugly-faced ones suddenly, and carried off the two beautiful-faced ones.' They blackened their own prospects, for a hard task befell those three. The bewildered prince, before his companions, was shedding the blood of his heart like rain. He said to his companions: 'We have devised so many schemes, endured many calamities, and eaten much grief, suffered so much sorrow in so many cities, and now that the morsel had reached the lip, someone snatched this morsel from our hand; but what is the use of this, since it was bound to be taken? Even if I split a hundred hairs with planning, one cannot escape destiny by a hair's breadth.' All day those three were together, talking and listening to secrets about Golrokh. They saw no way to go, nor any way to stay and rest. They said to each other: 'If we stay for a month, not one of us will find a way to enter this fortress, unless we become birds and grow wings so that we may fly up to the tower of this fortress.' Khosrow's heart was so grieved by that sorrow that it turned to blood and flowed from his eyes. His face turned like saffron and his lips grew dry; with both hands he cast dust upon his hair. Zeal and honor worked upon his body, his heart turned upside down like the heavens. The helpless, wretched prince said to his companions: 'How can she manage in the hands of faithless thieves? O Lord, Thou knowest how I am; Thou art both my leader and my guide. Have mercy on me who has become helpless, wandered away from my home and hearth. By Thy grace, untie the bond of this bewildered one, and show me the sight of that lost one. I have nothing left of the world but half a life, I have not rested for a moment to my heart's content. I have not seen my heart free of grief for a moment, nor have I seen myself in joy for a single second. My heart has turned to blood; by the right of Thy special ones, grant me release from this pain tonight.' When his lamentation exceeded all bounds, his friend came forward to assist him. The noble Farrokh said to Prince Khosrow: 'Let the king be free of worry regarding Golrokh. For I have been a night-traveler for long, and have had much experience in this business. Tonight, I shall steal that moon back, or else deny me my reward.' From that joy, Khosrow's heart became such that you would say he was old but became young again. He showered blessings upon Farrokh's soul: 'May you live forever, O far-sighted man!' In this hope they remained that day, until suddenly the sun set. When the sun descended from the heavens into the west, the entire sea of the cosmos became full of stars. The King of Zanzibar brought out his army from Abyssinia, making the cosmos pitch-black. It was a night as black as ink, with sentinels stationed on the watchtowers. A night of darkness exceeding all limits, as if indigo and soot were mixed in tar. A dark night, and Farrokh-zad in fury dressed in black like the pupil of the eye. When Farrokh-zad became clad in the same robe as the night, neither was the night separate from him, nor he from the night. When Farrokh went out from the presence of Hormoz, he returned alone behind the fortress. It was a fortress whose moat was submerged in water, water encircling all around the fortress. He did not see any guard behind the fortress; he crossed the bridge after a long wait. From beneath the ramparts of that fortress from afar, he cast a lasso onto a well-built tower. He ran up like a cat and reached the top, running a hundred times better than a dog. Below the ramparts he saw a high roof, he cast his lasso onto the upper wall. In an hour he reached the roof from the ramparts, he saw a light shining from a corner. Barefoot he went toward an opening, his eyes fell upon a man and a woman. That cruel-natured man was saying to the woman: 'O woman, show no more resistance. For vengeance your dagger is tempered like water, through lack of water, it is thirsty for my blood. Why do you not answer according to my desire? Why do you not seek my pleasure despite your reluctance? If you do not fulfill my heart's desire, you have no hope of keeping your life. Come, obey my command, seek my pleasure, desire the company of your partner.' Indeed, that woman was the beloved Hosna, fallen headlong into the trap like a bird. To the thief she was saying, 'O master, first bind the hands of our king. Once the king is in your bonds, I will submit, for I am anxious and fearful of him. When those three become your captives, my heart and soul will be yours. Take them out of the way, and then seek your desire according to your wish.' She spoke in this manner to that man, so that she might perhaps escape from that cruel villain. As Farrokh went further from the window, he heard the sound of an answer from afar. He headed toward that roof like smoke, what smoke? One cannot say how it was. He saw a chamber with an open hall, Golrokh was seated, and a candle was placed there. A thief was cast down before Gol, his mouth bound and his eyes blindfolded. When Farrokh saw that with delight and satisfaction, he whistled toward Golrokh from the roof. When Golrokh cast her eyes toward the roof, she recognized the whistle of the clever man. She went toward the roof and opened the door for him; in a moment she gave him weapons and a sword. She said to Farrokh: 'There are ten men in the fortress; the rest are a handful of miserable and helpless women. If you yourself had not found a way to me, they would not have sought a single man or woman from me. Now that you have come, arise quickly! Bring down fiery smoke upon this group. For from the pain of my nurse's death, all my shirt and ornaments are covered in blood. At the moment the thief snatched me away, my heart was full of the pain of my nurse's death. I knew no one at that moment, and I did not look ahead or behind. Otherwise, how could the thief have carried me off so quickly? But this deed was the decree of God.' She said this, and arising from the pain of her nurse, like a reed she girded her loins for vengeance against the thieves. Golrokh walked like a graceful cypress branch, running ahead of the noble Farrokh. When they reached Hosna's quarters, they whistled deceitfully to Hosna. When that wicked thief looked behind him, Hosna quickly made his head roll like a ball. When their hearts were eased and they sought a way, they searched for the gates of the fortress from every side. One man and two women found their way out, and from there those three took their path. When they arrived at the front and back of the fortress, ten cunning men were asleep inside the fortress. In less than an hour, with blows of the dagger, the three of them cut the ten men into two pieces. When they finished their business with them, they took the path upward from there. They bound the hands of the women one and all, and then they opened the gate of the fortress. They called out to the prince and Firuz, until each of them gave an answer in return. The prince was so gladdened by Gol's voice that he set out on the path like a madman. When those noble ones arrived there, they closed that gate and withdrew inside. The distraught Gol was shedding blood on the ground, sitting with dust on her head and her dress torn. She let blood flow from the narcissus-vessel of her eyes, turning the surface of the earth purple like a wild rose. From the rain of her tears a flower blossomed; where have you ever seen a flower that grew from blood? She raised a roar and tumult like the sea, bringing forth a mountain of tulips from the hard stone. The prince's heart grew heavy for that moon-faced one; he said to Gol: 'Of your reason, it is not...'