Spring 2001 (9.1)
Page 45

The Poetry of Mugham

Mugham lyrics evoke universal human feelings - love, passion, separation, grief, longing and betrayal. Often, these words are borrowed from Azerbaijani folk songs or classical poets like Fuzuli and Nazimi. The following lyrics are from Alim Gasimov's latest CD with his daughter Fargana, entitled "Love's Deep Ocean" (no Azeri title). The album was released in Frankfurt by Network Medien, 2000.

Baghishla Mani (Forgive Me)
I know that nothing can be returned
Neither with tears nor pleading.
I come to you as a sinner,
Forgive me, my dear, forgive me. (5 times)

Passion that has cooled cannot be rekindled
Neither with the coming spring no
winter past.
Years have caressed your hair,
Forgive me your gray hair. (3 times)

The guilty is sought in vain,
I am not destined to her.
Years pass, even in my sweet days,
Forgive me your gray hair. (2 times)

You are like grief in my thoughts. (2 times)
Passion that has cooled cannot be rekindled,
Neither with the coming spring nor with
the winter past.
Years have caressed your hair.
Forgive me your gray hair. (3 times)
Forgive me!

Ghazal by Fuzuli
Fuzuli (1495-1556)
Lines are in Azeri, Arabic and Persian.

The healing powers of reunion
Are recognized only
by those who are sick of parting.
The quenching clarity of reunion
Is felt only by those who thirst with longing.
The secrets of my lips
and what they have experienced
Only I can tell, for only my song
embodies them.
The feelings of those who cry
Are unknown to those who have slept.
To know how freely tears can flow,
Ask one who has stayed awake till morning.
The enthralling gaze of the beloved
Is seen only by the one who yearns.
The suffering and the helplessness
of those intoxicated by love
Are known only by those awaking
from their intoxication.
Do not ask the morning wind how I felt
When I was thinking of you; suffering,
I burned out like a candle.
Ask those who were with me
on the night of separation.
The holy man knows nothing
of the pleasures of love;
The depth of Fuzuli's love is known only
to those who love divinely.

_____
From Azerbaijan International (9.1) Spring 2001.
© Azerbaijan International 2001. All rights reserved.

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