از  داستان‌های  مثنوی  مولوی  جلال  الدين  رومی

مگس   کشتيبان

2 کو  همی  پنداشت  خود  را  هست  کس 1  ماند  احوالت  بدان  طرفه  مگس

  ku ha mi pen | dāsh TO khod rā | has TO kas

 mā  na  dah  vā | lat be dān tur | fe ma gas

  L    S   L   L  |   L    S     L     L    |  L   S   L

  L    S    L     L   |  L  S   L   L    |  L   S  L

who always thought itself to be somebody

  your condition resembles that wonder of a fly
 
4  ذره ای  خود را  شمرده آفتاب 3  از خودی  سر مست گشتی  بی شراب

za  re   i   khod | rā she mor de | ā  FO tāb

az  kho  di  sar  | mas TO gash  ti | bi sha rāb

 S   S     L     L  |  L   S   L   L    |  L   S     L

 L    S    L    L    |  L     S    L   L    |  L   S     L

a [mere] particle it reckoned itself to be the sun

out of (losing) itself, it became drunk without drink
 
6  گفته  من عنقای  وقتم  بی گمان 5  وصف  بازان  را  شنيده  در  زمان

  gof  te man `an | qā ye vaq tam | bi go mān

 vas fe bā zān  | rā she ni de  | dar za mān

  L     S    L    L  |  L   S   L   L    |  L   S    L

 L   S    L    L   |  L   S  L    L  |  L   S   L

it said, I'm the Phoenix of the Times,  no doubt [about it]

  it  heard the description of the falcons  and then
 
8 همچو   کشتيبان  همی  افراشت  سر 7  آن  مگس  بر   برگ   کاه   و   بول  خر

 ham cho kesh ti | bān  ha  mi   af  | rāsh TO sar

ān ma gas bar | bar  ge  kā  ho | baw le khar

  L    S     L     L  |  L      S   L    L   |  L       S    L

 L    S    L    L  |  L     S   L   L    |  L    S    L

like a boat-captain always raised up [his] head

  that fly on a leaf of straw and urine of donkey

 
10 مدّتی  در  فکر  آن  می مانده ام 9  گفت  من  کشتی  و  دريا  خوانده ام

mod da ti  dar | fek re ān mi | man de am

 gof TO man kesh | ti  o  dar  yā | khān de am

  L    S   L   L  |  L   S   L   L  |  L   S     L

  L     S     L       L  |  L  S   L   L   |  L   S     L

for a while I've remained thinking about them

  he said I have called  boat and sea
 
12  مرد  کشتيبان  و  اهل  و  رأی زن 11 اينک  اين  دريا  و اين کشتی  و  من

  mar de kesh ti  |  bā  no  ah  lo | rā i zan

 i  na  kin dar  | yā o in  kesh  |  ti  o man

  L     S    L     L  |  L   S   L   L   |  L    S   L

 L    S   L     L  |  L   S   L    L   |  L   S   L

helmsman and skilled and judicious

  behold  this sea and this boat and me
 
14  می نمودش   اينقدر  بيرون  ز حدّ 13 بر سر دريا  همی راند او عمد

 mi   ne  mu dash  | in  qa  dar  bi  | run ze had

 bar sa re dar | yā  ha  mi rān | du `a mad

  L     S     L      L  |  L   S   L    L    |  L   S     L

 L    S   L    L  |  L    S   L   L   |  L     S   L

this amount appeared to him without limit

  on the surface of the sea he kept steering the raft
 
16  آن  نظر  که بيند  آن را  راست  کو 15  بود  بی حدّ  آن  چمين  نسبت  بدو

 ān  na  zar  ke  | bi  na  dān  rā  |ras TO ku

 bu DO bi had  | dān cha min nas | bat be du

  L    S   L      L  |  L   S   L      L  |  L   S   L

 L     S   L    L   |  L     S    L    L  |  L   S     L

that vision that he should see it correctly [was] where

 without bound was that excrement in relation to him
 
18  وهم  او  بول  خر  و  تصوير  خس 17  صاحب  تأويل  باطل  چون  مگس

 vah  me u  baw   | le  kha ro tas  |vi  re khas

sā   he  be  ta  |  vi  le  bā  tel  |  chon ma gas

  L    S    L    L  |  L   S    L    L  |  L   S   L

 L   S   L     L  |  L   S    L    L  |   L      S    L

his thinking [is] donkey piss and his imagination straw

  one with idle commentary [is] like the fly
 

 

Listen to this poem read in two different styles:

#1  The way it's supposed to be read.

 Hope you'll enjoy and try to imitate...

Notice it is not necessary to pause between feet or stichs and the emphasis  is on word stress rather than syllable length.

  

 #2  Read according to the meter.

 This style is provided only to show you the "behind-the-scenes" mechanics.  Poetry is never actually recited this way so don't try this in public! The trick is to always be conscious of the meter  but  make it look like you're not!  Listen to this style many, many times until it's in your blood, then throw it in the garbage and try to emulate the correct style to your left (#1)

 Listen

Listen

 

Here is Nicholson's translation of this story.

Pattern of meter :

--> Long Short Long Long | Long Short Long Long | Long Short (Extra)Long

This metrical pattern  is called the "ramal musaddas",  and is the meter used in mystical masnavi's.

Rumi's Masnavi is a good place to practice learning meter because there are so many couplets, translations are available and you know in advance what the meter is.

 The very word "masnavi" means "couplet" (same root as /sānian/ "2nd") and both hemistichs of a couplet have the same rhyme in this pattern:

 AA, BB, CC, DD,  ...       

L(ong) is a long syllable, S(hort) is a short syllable and E(xtra)L(ong) is a syllable, usually restricted to the last foot, containing a consonant cluster. A long syllable may contain a consonant + short vowel + consonant OR consonant + long vowel. A short syllable contains a consonant + short vowel.  In the older stages of the Persian language, long vowels really were pronounced with a longer duration and short vowels a little shorter, however, this distinction has been lost in the modern language. Today, only a master poetry reader can produce this effect.
Meter (وزْن ): It is essential to first figure out the meter of a poem before attempting to understand the meaning.  This is how you can tell, among other things,  where the ezāfe's go and how you can distinguish  words whose meaning depends on a tashdid  (for example serr ("secret") and sar ("head").
  Procedure:  
    First, mark off the long vowels: ā, i, u, and  long diphthongs: ay, aw (but careful if they are followed by a suffix)
    Then, mark off the short vowels: a, e, o
     
    When you see the pattern, deal with vowels which can be either long or short:
      final "he", unpronounced "he"
      word-final u/o (including the "vāv"  meaning "and" in poetry always pronounced (v)o)
      ezāfe's
      any other word-final short vowels
      /i/ + vowel (especially /iyā/)
     tashdid's and hamze's are sometimes made use of  and sometimes ignored.
    two Short syllables may be counted as one Long syllable
    The first syllable of a foot may (in certain meters) be short, even if the meter calls for it to be long.
    It takes some juggling  to figure out where one syllable ends and the next begins. Learn to ignore spelling--syllabic units transcend word boundaries.
    If you find you have 2 consonants, one-after-another (except  "nun" + consonant), you need to break them up by adding a short vowel.  However,  in the last "foot" or section of the verse, it is ok to have a consonant cluster and that syllable is called "ExtraLong"
Hacking up the words of a poem to bits and pieces like this is called تقطيع   /taqti`/ "cutting" in Persian. In English it is called scanning.

References:

Bang-e Nay (page 27)

Nicholson  (volume 1, pages 67-68)

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Very, very heartfelt thanks to Mehrdad in Holland who emailed to say thank you for saving a lot of time in learning how to do Persian word-processing and then proceeded to spend even more time than that saved in making you and me the world's most wonderful virtual Keshtiban. Thank you Mehrdad!

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