1Cademy - بخش ۳۲ - حکایت کردن کثیر شاعر عاشق عزه از مجنون پیش خلیفه / Section 32 - Kuthayyir, the Poet in Love with Azza, Telling of Majnun Before the Caliph

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بخش ۳۲ - حکایت کردن کثیر شاعر عاشق عزه از مجنون پیش خلیفه / Section 32 - Kuthayyir, the Poet in Love with Azza, Telling of Majnun Before the Caliph

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روشن سخن عرب کثیر
بر طارم نظم نجم نیر

با عزه که رشک حور عین بود
رونق شکن بتان چین بود

بیرون ز قیاس داشت میلی
چون قیس رمیده دل به لیلی

چون گل به نسیم او شگفتی
گفتی به هوایش آنچه گفتی

شعرش که حلاوتی نکو داشت
هر چاشنیی که داشت زو داشت

آری نمک سخن ز عشق است
نور فلک سخن ز عشق است

از سوز دل است در سخن شور
وز شعله عشق بر فلک نور

روزیش خلیفه پیش خود خواند
بر خوان نوال خویش بنشاند

گفتا که بخوان نسیبی امروز
از آتش عزه مجلس افروز

برداشت به یاد او سرودی
وز دیده روانه ساخت رودی

در فرقت او نسیب می خواند
وز هر مژه سیل اشک می راند

می کرد ز اشک و نظم خود پر
دامن ز عقیق و مجلس از در

چون دید خلیفه آن غم و درد
پرسید ز وی که ای جوانمرد

دانم که ز عاشقان بسی را
دیدی، دیدی چو خود کسی را

گفتا که بلی دلی ز غم ریش
رفتم به دیار عزه زین پیش

در راه به وادیی فتادم
کز بیم عنان ز دست دادم

رفتم دو سه روز بی خور و خواب
نی نان دیده ز دور نی آب

ناگه دیدم خجسته حالی
با پشت خمیده چون هلالی

خونین جگری چون نافه مشک
از غم شده پوست بر تنش خشک

بنهاده به قصد صید دامی
رفتم کردم بر او سلامی

با وی به ادب خطاب کردم
دریوزه نان و آب کردم

گفتا که ز حی فتاده دورم
وز مرده دلان حی نفورم

با من نه طعام نی شراب است
نانم گیه آب من سراب است

لیکن بنشین دمی که شاید
بر ما در روزیی گشاید

یک صید به دام ما درافتد
وین رنجکشی ز ما برافتد

من هم به کناره ای نشستم
بر راه امید چشم بستم

ناگاه شد آهویی خوش اندام
زنجیری بند و حلقه دام

آهو نه که لعبتی مصور
زیبا شکل و بدیع منظر

چشمش برده ز آهوان دست
بی سرمه سیاه و بی قدح مست

مستان همه در خمار چشمش
آهو چشمان شکار چشمش

شاخش چو فتیله ای ز عنبر
بر فرق فتیله موی دلبر

شاخی بی برگ کس ندیده
زان گونه ز مشک تر دمیده

بر مشک ممر ناف شد چست
بر ناصیه زور کرد و بر رست

هر بند ازان دو شاخ نوزاد
قلاب دل هزار صیاد

از بی عقدی و بی وشاحی
با گردن ساده چون صراحی

آهو چشمی به عشوه جسته
پیوند حمایلش گسسته

سینه چو شکم به رنگ کافور
نافش مشکین چو نیفه حور

نسرین سرین او درین باغ
چون لاله ندیده محنت داغ

پشتش نکشیده هیچ باری
بر وی ننشسته جز غباری

پرورده میان سبزه و آب
آسوده ز دست رنج قصاب

پایش قلمی خط آزموده
جز بر خط سبزه سر نسوده

افتاده به دام خود چو دیدش
برجست و چو جان به بر کشیدش

چشمش بوسید و گردش افشاند
صد بیت به وصف او فرو خواند

بگشاد ز پاش حلقه دام
بگذاشت که در چرا زند گام

آهو چو ز بند او شد آزاد
نگریخته پیش او باستاد

زد بانگ که پیش چشم لیلی
چشم چو تو صد بود طفیلی

باز آی و مترس کز همه کس
من یار توام ز عالم و بس

مادام که باشد آدمیزاد
بادی تو و لیلی از غم آزاد

این گفت و فتاد صید دیگر
در دام وی از نخست بهتر

با وی به همین نسق به سر برد
پس دست به آهوی دگر برد

این قاعده با سه چار پنجی
پرداخت نخورده دست رنجی

از گرسنگی نماند تابم
گفتم که بزن بر آتش آبم

دام از پی صید داشتن چیست
چون بگرفتی گذاشتن چیست

مهمان توام به طعمه محتاج
این طعمه چرا دهی به تاراج

گفتا که ازین هوس خمش باش
با هشیاری چو من بهش باش

زآتش گیرم که مثل لیلی ست
با مثل ویم عظیم میلی ست

بوسم به محبت ویش پای
بر دیده روشنش کنم جای

کام دل خویش ازو برآرم
بازش به فدای او گذارم

چیزی که بود چنین مرا پشت
خود گوی که چون توانمش کشت

چیزی که بود شبیه یارم
چون طاقت خوردن وی آرم

ور نی من از این شکار کردن
محتاجترم ز تو به خوردن

چیزی نخورم ز خشک و تر هیچ
جز شاخ گیاهی و دگر هیچ

او بود درین که برد ناگاه
آهوی دگر به دام او راه

گفتم که دوان شوم ازو پیش
وان را بکشم به دشنه خویش

او پیش ز من دوید و آن را
بگرفت چنانکه دیگران را

صد بوسه به روی چشم او داد
کردش به فدای لیلی آزاد

نومید شدم ز کار و بارش
بی طعمه بماندم از شکارش

زان گفت و شنو در آن زمینم
گشت از سخنان او یقینم

کز عامریان وی است مجنون
حال از غم لیلی اش دگرگون

English translation

Kuthayyir, the bright speech of the Arabs, a radiant star upon the vault of verse, with Azza, who was the envy of the wide-eyed houris, and who shattered the splendor of the idols of China. He had an inclination beyond all measure, like Qays (Majnun), his heart driven wild for Layla. Like a flower he blossomed at her breeze; whatever he uttered, he uttered in love of her. His poetry, which held a fine sweetness, whatever savor it had, it had from her. Yes, the salt of speech comes from love, the light of heaven's speech comes from love. From the burning of the heart comes passion in words, and from the flame of love comes light upon the sky. One day the caliph summoned him before himself and seated him at his own bountiful table. He said: recite a love-song (nasib) today, and kindle the gathering with the fire of Azza. He raised up a song in her memory, and set a river flowing from his eyes. In her separation he sang the love-song, driving a flood of tears from every lash, filling with his tears and his own verse his skirt with carnelians and the gathering with pearls. When the caliph saw that grief and pain, he asked him: O young man, I know that among lovers you have seen many; have you ever seen anyone like yourself? He said: yes, a heart wounded by grief. I set out before this toward Azza's land. On the way I fell into a valley, where from terror the reins slipped from my hand. I traveled two or three days without food or sleep, seeing neither bread nor water from afar. Suddenly I saw a blessed being, with a back bent like a crescent moon, his liver bloody like a pod of musk, his skin dried upon his body from grief. He had set a snare to catch some game; I went and offered him a greeting, addressed him courteously, and begged for bread and water. He said: I am fallen far from the tribe, and I shun the dead-hearted folk of the tribe. With me there is neither food nor drink; my bread is grass, my water a mirage. But sit a while, perhaps a door of sustenance may open for us, some prey may fall into our snare, and this suffering may be lifted from us. So I too sat down to one side, closing my eyes upon the road of hope. Suddenly a fine-bodied gazelle appeared, bound in the chain and ring of the snare; not a gazelle, but a painted idol, beautiful of form and marvelous of aspect. Its eye outdid the eyes of gazelles, black without kohl, drunk without a cup. All the drunken are in the languor of its eye; the gazelle-eyed are prey to its eye. Its horn like a wick of ambergris, and upon the wick's crown, the beloved's hair; a leafless branch none has ever seen, grown in that manner from fresh musk. Upon the musk the navel became a passage; it pressed upon the brow and sprang forth. Every joint of those two newborn horns was a hook for the hearts of a thousand hunters. Without a necklace and without a sash, with a neck plain and smooth as a wine-flask, a gazelle-eyed one leaping coquettishly, the bond of its baldric snapped loose. Its breast, like its belly, the color of camphor; its navel musky like the fold of a houri. Its wild-rose haunch, in this garden, like a tulip that never knew the pain of a brand. Its back had borne no burden; nothing had settled on it but a speck of dust. Reared amid greenery and water, at ease from the toil of the butcher's hand; its foot a pen well practiced in writing, rubbing its head only on the line of green grass. When he saw it fallen into his own snare, he leapt up and drew it to his breast like his own soul. He kissed its eye and scattered dust around it, and recited a hundred verses in its praise. He loosed the snare's ring from its foot and let it go to graze. When the gazelle was freed from his bond, it did not flee, but stood before him. He cried out: before the eye of Layla a hundred eyes like yours are mere hangers-on. Come back and fear not, for of all people I alone am your friend in the whole world. As long as humankind shall exist, may you and Layla be free of grief. He said this, and another prey fell into his snare, better than the first. He dealt with it in the very same manner, then set his hand to yet another gazelle. This practice he carried out with three, four, five, without ever gaining a single earning. From hunger no strength was left in me; I said: throw water upon my fire! What is a snare for but to catch the prey? Once you have caught it, what is this releasing? I am your guest, in need of food; why do you give this food away to be plundered? He said: be silent of this desire; be sensible with awareness, as I am. Suppose I say that it is like Layla, and that I have a great inclination toward her likeness; in love I kiss its foot, I give it a place upon my bright eye, I fulfill my heart's desire from it, then release it again as a sacrifice for her. A thing that has been such a support to me, tell me yourself, how could I kill it? A thing that so resembles my beloved, how could I bear to eat it? And if not, then out of this hunting I am even more in need of eating than you. I eat nothing, dry or moist, but a stalk of grass and nothing more. He was in this state when suddenly another gazelle found its way into his snare. I said I would run ahead of him and kill it with my own dagger. But he ran ahead of me and caught it, just as he had caught the others. He gave a hundred kisses to its eye and freed it as a sacrifice for Layla. I despaired of his affairs entirely, and remained without food from his hunt. From that speech and that hearing, in that land, from his words I became certain that he was Majnun of the Amirid clan, his state transformed by grief for Layla.

Updated 2026-07-19

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