musaafir-e dasht

Company or more specifically suhbah is a phenomenon whose effects are difficult to describe. There is this teacher of mine who always says that 'environment is silent speech' and I always used to think how right he was... The effects and impacts are so subtle that one does not even notice how one gets transformed without noticing it ever. There are few verses by Shaykh Sa'adi (rahimahullah) that I came across in a book called, Bayt ki haqeeqat . I am compelled to write them on my blog. The poetry is extremely beautiful and rhythmic. Someone who has ever experienced such company would testify to the truth contained in the verses of this hikaayat . Gili khushbooi dar hamaam roozi Raseed az dast-e-mahboobi ba-dastam Be-oo guftam keh mushki ya 'abeeri Keh az boo-e dil-aaweez e tu mastam Be-oo gufta, man gil-e naacheez boodam Wa-leekin muddati ba-gul nashistam Jamaal-e hum-nasheen dar man asar kard Wa gar na man hamaan khaakam keh hastam [One day in a hamaam* , I g...

The current situation of the displaced people of Swat reminded me of the following poem by Shaykh Sa'adi rahimahullah , which was there in our Persian syllabus. Although the poem is about the famine that struck Damascus - as a result of which massive devastation of life occurred -, I am able to relate it to the situation of those who have become 'displaced' within their own homeland: Chunaan qehet-saali shud ander damishq Keh yaaraan faramoosh kardand ishq (When famine struck Damascus, lovers forgot their love) Chunaan aasmaan bar-zameen shud bakheel Keh lub tar na kardand zar'ae wa nakheel (When heavens became stringent with waters, the lips of the seed and date trees remained parched) Bay-khuusheed sar chashma-hayi qadeem Namaanad aab, juz aab-e ashk-e yateem (Ancient rivers dried up; no water but that of the orphan's tears was left) Nabuudi bay-juz aah bayweh zani Agar bar shudi duudi az ruuzani (No voice except for that of the widow's rose from casements lik...