Good news, O meadow bird, spring has come again
The season of drinking and kissing and hugging has come again
The term of withered fading and sadness has ended
The days of dallying with the beloved have come again. ...
To celebrate a beauty's curly tresses
Wine bearers, wine shops, singers and dancing have come again
Should you pass the schoolhouse door, tell the sheikh that
A tulip-cheeked beauty to touch him has come again
Close up the shop of abstinence for this happy season
For my heart's ears hear that the song of the lute has come again.
O Saqi, open the door of the wineshop for me;
Make me heedless of lessons, discussions, asceticism, and hypocrisy
Lay a strand of your curly hair in my way;
Free me from learning, the mosque, teaching, and prayers.
Singing like David, bring me a jug of wine;
Make me heedless of worry over status and its ups and downs.
--Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini
Beautiful Persian poetry.1 Written in the style of Hafiz, the fourteenth century Sufi poet. And the poet? Yes, the poem was written by Ayatollah Khomeini, by him of the harsh words and the scowly face.
Ultra-conservative theologically, politically cunning, and the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini was also Persian. And to be Persian, they say, is also to be a poet.
The mullahs will explain that Khomeini's allusions to wine and romantic love are metaphors in his poetry, metaphors that express the soul's longing and love for God. Just as Christians and Jews interpret the erotic poetry of the Song of Solomon.
No doubt true. A common enough allegorical path followed by those seeking after the Divine. Nevertheless, the many chambers and complexities of the human heart and soul never fail to surprise and delight.
------------------------1More beautiful in Farsi, I suspect, than in this very literal English translation.
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