Tonight is their wedding night. And she is beginning the night with a song that celebrates their blessed union, her desires for their first night, and her prescription for a lifetime of joy.
First, she praises the quality of their love and credits the one who brought them together.
Your heart is like a boat
A boat that is the color of Gold.
That our destinies now
Belong to one another
Is the work of God.
That is why she has agreed to marry him. Their love for another, cultivated by God, will be all that they need around them.
The beautiful Island of Love
Is a land empty of insincerity.
We shall go there where
There is only room
For our two hearts.
But that is the future. Tonight is their wedding night. She is finally allowed to express herself in a way that would not have been acceptable before. And she knows exactly what she wants to happen tonight with her new husband.
Up to now, even amorous gestures would have been a sin
But tonight, I am accompanied by my dowry.
I want, tonight until dawn, for us to share
Our secrets and needs.
From Nasrin's "Our Wedding" (Aroosiye Ma)
Tonight is Our Wedding Night
When Her Hands Feel Cold in Yours
After sometime away, he is back in town. He had last seen his girl in a tearful goodbye, where he had sought to reassure her that his trip would be short.
Now I have come back
Bringing all of your hopes with me.
Your beautiful hands though
Feel cold in my hands.
The look in your eyes tell me
They're not coming back.
All he asks is for some honest answers, urging her to tell him if she has given her heart to someone else. In his urging for honesty, he invokes moral/religious duty.
Giving your heart to that and the other
Is a sin
You want to fly away from my roof,
Just tell me.
From "Traveller" (Mosafer) by various artists including Shahram Shabpareh and Afshin Moghadam.
Wedding Night Advice
No doubt, to-be-married couples get a lot of advice from a variety of people. On the night of their wedding, this advice-giver has two pieces of advice for the couple. One is the admonition for the bride to finally act on her desires and kiss the groom right away. The second is perhaps less immediate.
Observing that the kind God has brought the two hearts together, the man says:
As life lasts only two days,
God forbid that you lose those two days
Over petty things.
Travel through the desert of love
For as long as you can.
The reference to life lasting only two days is a point heard in other Persian poems/songs. Evidently, the belief is that we are born today and tomorrow we die. Therefore we only have the present. Tonight.
The association of love and desert is also a popular one in Persian literature. It probably goes back, at least, to the story of Leili and Majnoon, an 800-year-old story of teen lovers not unlike Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. In the story, out of his love for Leili, Majnoon fled to the desert.
Incidentally, in urging her to kiss the groom right away, he points out:
The groom has already kissed you,
He has cut the bud of your lips,
For the pigeon of your heart,
He has dispersed seeds tonight.
From Manoochehr Sakhaee's Flower-Haired Bride (Gol Be Sar Aroos)
When Wolves Find Religion
He has heard her say it all before. And he is not going to fall for it again.
He is not going to believer her false I love you's and I'll die for you's. No, not anymore. And he makes his point emphatically by repeating a colorful Persian proverb relating to how creatures do not change and will act according to nature as long as they live.
Those words mean nothing to me.
The whole world knows
The repentance of a wolf is death.
The repentance of a wolf is death.
God Would Almost Have Reason to be Jealous
Love is not strong enough to describe how she feels about this man. No, she boldly uses the W word.
A term of endearment that is ordinarily for one supreme being. Blasphemous? Perhaps. Except, that she is quite open and honest to all parties about it.
When I heard you were coming,
I sat facing God.
I said, “After You, O God,
I worship him."
From Mahasti's "Housecleaning" (Khooneh Tekooni)
Till Death Do Us Unite--When Windows Fall in Love
You probably don't think of windows as particulary capable of emotions. Neither do I. But, suppose two windows in the same building happen to fall in love with one another. What might that feel like? And what would be the prospects for them ever hooking up? In the world of windows in love, the walls are the cruel hands of destiny that are keeping the lovers apart.
The wall is of a black stone.
A cold rough limestone.
Has attached a lock of silence
To our worn lips.
We can't even wiggle
Under the weight of the wall.
The entire tale of our love
Is the story of the wall.
Naturally though, being windows, their entire existence is dependent on the wall. Where would a window be without the wall? The windows realize this dilemma too and rely on the wind to be in touch with the other. But they harbor hope of a different fate.
Wish that this wall would collapse!
You and I would die together.
In a different world,
We could hold one another's hand.
And the windows have a particular vision, for this Heaven of theirs.
Maybe in that world,
They won't have walls
Between their window.
From Googoosh's "Two Windows" (Doa Panjereh)
I Would Like to Get Drunk---On Love
Even getting drunk can seem romantic in a Persian song. You get the feeling that being 'drunk' in the sense used in Persian songs and poetry is entirely different than our common image of being passed out by some alley.
I want to get drunk tonight
Be totally in love.
Without you, I was nothing,
Tonight, I want to exist.
I have an unworthy life
Let it be sacrificed for you
Be thrown at your steps
Let it be the soil under you feet
And, as I mentioned earlier, a thorough understanding of Sufism (which I readily admit that I lack) may be required to fully appreciate such poetry (esp. its references to being drunk), but note again, the concept of sacrificing one's life for their beloved.
From Moein's "Drunk" (Mast)
Looking For the Man Who Knows the Pleasant Song of Love
She knows he is out there somewhere. She may not have seen him yet, but she will recognize him for sure. How?
- He calls her with the pleasant song of love;
- He does for her what the touch of the dew does to the flower;
- He frees her from her 100-year jail sentence;
- He is intimate with her body the way the rain is with the lawn;
- He is tender the way night's tears are to a lonely lover;
- He has the breath of spring in his chest;
- He can be the dawn of sun;
- He can be that rare jewel for the ring of love
From Marjan's "Who Called On To Me?" (Ki Seda Kard Mano)
God of the Drunks
Regardless of your religious beliefs--or your drinking habits--you probably have not prayed to the God of the Drunks too many times. Yet, that is precisely what is happening in the song lyrics described below, where the man is pleading with God, God of the Drunks, to bring he and his beloved together.
God,
God of the Drunks,
God of the Wine Worshippers
In the name of all that is love
Bring us to one another
Bring us to one another
After mentioning how hard it is to be apart from one another, he goes on to say:
God,
Think of us
Think of those in love
We, who are drunk with love
Let us be.
Let us be.
Note that in Islam, drinking alcohol is prohibited. So the idea of the God of the Drunks sounds not only jarring but also quite blasphemous. But the man clarifies that they are not drunk with alcohol---they are drunk with love. Thus, God of the Drunks, would in essence, be the God of Those in Love.
(Persian poetry is filled with references to drunkedness and drinking. I must confess that I do not know its significance all that well. I believe the references have their roots in Sufism, which has influenced certain aspect of Persian poetry).
From: God of the Drunks (Khodaye Mastoon)
You Be the Rose, I'll be the Dew
She wants him close to her. How close? Well, pretty close. But listen to the metaphors she uses to describe her sentiments. She wants them to be as close as:
- a boat chained to the water
- the dew in the dreams of a rose
- the night that gets affectionate with sleep
Pretty romantic/sappy stuff (depending on your perspective).
From Nooshafarin's Vine ("Peechak")
Asleep When Love Knocked
Sometimes, love comes when we are not ready for it.
Unannounced, it knocked and left
I was asleep when it flew away.
It came and saw my heart was still asleep.
Not bothering to sit on the roof,
It flew away.
That, which is the light of hope
They say it comes from God
In the blackness of my nights
It is like the dawn of morning.
Maybe, but for the man in the song, that dawn does not come.
From Aref's Light of Hope (Noor-e-Omid)
Thank You, God For Bring You to Me
Some or even many of you may be familiar with the song "Sultan-e-Ghalbha" (Ruler of the Hearts), which was from a movie of the same name. But you may not know that the movie featured several versions of the song--same music but very different lyrics.
My favorite version is a duet that, at its end, describes the sentiments of along-separated couple who is finally reunited.
I will die for God
Whose Kindness brings the hearts together.
His Compassion solves the problems.
Thank You, God!
What's past is passed.
Troubles are part of the games of Destiny
Thank You, God
for is now Heaven
Our house.
What's past is passed, Come
Come, Let's say Thank You, God.
That He brought together our hearts.
Thank You, God
If, for a day, this Sky
Is Unkind to me and you
Today, there is no trace of sighs
Thank you, God.
From Aref & Ahdiyeh's Duet at closing credits of Ruler of the Hearts (Soltan-e-Ghalbha)
Alphabet of Love
This woman is describing her high opinion of her beloved as she ponders what sort of a gift to give him:
What should I throw at your feet
that would be worthy of your feet?
What shall I sing that could
Take the place of your words?
You might think with such lofty opinions of her beloved, the task of finding the appropriate gift would be impossible. Not to worry. She has it all covered.
My gift to you
Is a basket of affection
In return from you,
A smile would be plenty.
The guy seems to be hardly worth all this, yet, she seems to be more than willing to give:
The spread of my love is always open to you
Your love is the solution to all my problem,
I like to sacrifice all that I have for you
But your heart has no need for affection.
And why is she willing to give him so much?
I owe the warmth of my heart to your hands.
If you want my life, that would be fine with me.
I learned the alphabet of love from you
Whatever I have I owe to you.
The song demonstrates the element of sacrifice that so many of us have heard from our parents and grandparents: ghorboonet beram, fadat besham, etc. But, you can almost understand why she would be willing to sacrifice her life for him. He gave her something more valuable--the meaning of love.
From Googoosh's "Gift" (Peeshkesh)
Overflow Me With Desire
This man believes he has found his love. "My Love", excerpted below, is his expressoin of that belief:
I picked you out from among hundreds of flowers
In my chest, I threw a celebration of your love.
For the ending point of loneliness,
Yours was the only name I called.
My Love.
Talk and with the purity of the springs
Overflow me with desire.
With your hands form a ring of flowers
And toss it around my neck.
If out of skepticism
I am cool to humans
You caress my hads
For they have been cold for a long time.
From: Farzin's "My Love" (Eshghe man")
If Only Your Eyes Say 'Yes'
What romantic/heroic things would you be willing do to express your joy of winning her heart, if only she said 'yes'?
Here are some suggestions, from one man who lists what he would do "If Only Your Eyes Say 'Yes' ":
- Put the mountain on his shoulder
- Fight in any war
- Take the wave from the sea
- Sap the rocks
- Bring the moon to her house
- Take target practice at the wind
- Count every particle of soil on earth
- Cut the stars of the skies and put them next to her eyes
- replace the 'eyes' of the moon with pictures of her eyes
- Remove the Sun, build a door for her eyes, and then put a mirror in front of her eyes (the idea being that in presence of her eyes, there would be no need for the sun).
Impossible, you say? Nonsense, says the man in love. "None of this would be any effort all, if your eyes say 'yes'.
From Daryoush's "Permission" ("Ejazeh" or "Ageh Cheshmat Began Areh")
I Love Her---But She Has No Clue
This song tells the story about a man who loves a woman but she does not know about it. He wants to tell her. He tries to tell her. But, as outlined below, something always happens to prevent it.
I look at her, hoping she would read it in my eyes.
She does not.
I wrote'I love you" on the leaf of a flower.
She sticks the flower in the hair of a child to get the child to smile.
I plead with the Breeze to take my message to my beloved.
Thunder intercedes and blocks my beloved from view.
From: Moein's "Yeki Ra Doost Midaram" (There is Someone That I Love")