Ghazal

The ghazal is an ancient and an art form very unique to Dari, though it has since been utilised by a number of other languages, including Pashto, Turki, and Urdu. It is not known exactly when the first ghazals were written, as most of them perished in the destruction of the Mongol invasions of the 13th century.

It was originally a type of poem about love and wine, as its short form made it easy for singing. However it was soon taken over by the Sufi poets, who used the images of wine (may), cup-bearer (saqi), love (eshq), and nightingale (bolbol) to describe their quest for union with God.

In form, the ghazal is a short poem composed of a number of beits (two lines). In each beit, a story is told and it stands independent of itself. However it may be encompassed in the ghazal by a theme. Apart from the first beit (misra), the second line in each beit rhymes, for example in the following ghazal of Maulana Balkhi:

Biayid, biayid, ke golzar damida ast
biayid, biayid, ke deldar resida ast

Biarid ba yak-bar hama jan o jahan ra
Ba khorshid seporid ke khosh tegh kashida ast

Bar an zesht bekhandid ke u naz numayad
Bar an yar begeryid ke az yar borida ast

Hama shahr beshorid chi awaza dar uftad
Ke dewana degar bara ze zanjir rahida ast

Bekobid dohl-ha wo degar hech magoyid
Chu jaye del o aql ast ke jan nez ramida ast

In addition to rhyme, a ghazal must follow a meter. This is a pattern where each line has the same number of syllables, which are either short or long. It is the meter which gives the poem its grace, and makes it able to be sung. There are a number of meters to which the ghazal writer can use, and some examples are given below (note that ‘x’ means a short syllable, such as “ke” or “az” while ‘–’ indicates a long syllable, such as “hech” or “raft”:

- - x x - - x x - - x x - -

Gol dar bar o may dar kaf o ma’shuqa ba kam ast
Sultan-e jahanam ba chunin roz ghulam ast

(A flower on my breast, wine in hand, and my beloved with me
My nations king is on such a day nothing but my slave) - Hafez

x x - - x x - - x x - - x x -

Dar kharabat e mughan nur-e khoda mibinam
In ajab bin ke chu nuri ze koja mibinam

(In the Magian wine tavern, I see the light of God
See this wonder, this light which I see from such a place!) - Hafez

- - x – x - - - - x – x - -

Dast az talab nadaram ta kam-e man bar-ayad
Ya tan rasad ba janan ya jan ze tan bar-ayad

(I will never lift my hand from searching, until I obtain my desire
Either my body will arrive to the beloved, or life will leave my body) – Hafez

The ghazal has changed over time, and undergone changes with all the notable writers. Hafez Shirazi is often considered to be the most talented writer of ghazals, though his predecessor Sadi wrote of an equally high standard. Bedil is probably the most respected ghazal artist in Afghanistan, as his poems are the choice of many Afghan singers.

Today in Afghanistan, more than in Iran, the ghazal is used by many poets. It is also sung in a purely Afghan art form. Sometimes singers will sing the whole ghazal, though more often just 3 or 4 beits will be sung from a ghazal. Verses from other poets may also be mixed into a ghazal singing, and the ghazal is often begun with a “fard”, a single beit of the singers own choosing.

                                                                 Charbeiti/Dubeiti

The name “charbeiti” literally means “four beits”, though it is alternatively (and more accurately) called a “dubeiti” – a poem two beits. This poetic form, like the ghazal, is uniquely dari.

It is a story told in four lines, and given its small size and simplicity, is composed by scholars (such as Omar Khayyam) and farmers, students and shepherds alike. However the majority of charbeiti authors are usually common people, often illiterate. The theme is often about love, youth, and more recently about war or anything else that affects the poets life. Since the poems are often passed on orally, there can be many variations to a single poem – depending on where the poem has gone or evolved.

The charbeiti generally consists of eleven syllables, and follows the meter given below, for example:

x - - - x - - - x - -

Shamali lalazar basha ba ma chi
Zemestanesh bahar basha ba ma chi
Shawam dar gerya o rozam ba zari
Negar jan entezar basha ba ma chi

“The wild-tulips of Shamali – what does it matter to me?
That winter should become spring – what does it matter to me?
My nights are spent crying, and my days in lamentation
Waiting for my beloved, what does it matter to me…”

Boro ba yar bogo yar-e tu amad
Gol-e narges kharidar-e tu amad
Boro ba yar bogo chashm-e tu roshan
Amo yar-e wafadar-e tu amad

“Go tell my beloved – your sweetheart has arrived
Oh sweet flower, your desirer has arrived
Go tell my beloved – may your eyes be bright
That faithful sweetheart of yours has arrived”

Arakchin saret gol gol zari bud
Beradarayet da kabul ardali bud
Shawom qurban-e shawa-e zemestan
Ke bazia ba dawr-e sandali bud

“The cap on your head was embroidered in gold, my flower
Your brothers were horse-caretakers in Kabul
I am a sacrifice to those winter nights
When there were games around the sandali”

Shabi az del ze del goftom qalam ra
Bia tarif konim gham-e delam ra
Qalam gofta boro bechara asheq
Nadaram taqat-e in koh-e gham ra

“One night, I told my pen from the bottom of my heart
Come, lets boast of our sorrows to my heart
My heart said go – you poor, helpless lover
I don’t have the endurance for this mountain of sorrow”

Gham-e eshqet biaban parwaram kard
Hawayet morgh-e be-bal o param kard
Mara gofti saburi kon saburi
Saburi khak-e aalam bar saram kard

“The sorrow of your love has made me take to the desert
Your air has made me into a bird without wings or feathers
You told me ‘patience, have patience…’
Patience has thrown the dust of the world upon my head”