Mathnawi, or Rhymed Couplet

This recording is of the first four lines of Rumi’s Mathnawi. This prologue is sometimes called “The Song of the Reed Flute,” and describes the origin of the soul’s love — its innate desire to return to the unity of its homeland, its place of origin.

In the mathnawi form, each half-verse rhymes, and the rhyme changes with each new verse. Because of this flexibility in rhyme, the mathnawi form was often used for longer, epic works — and for teaching works.


Persian Text

bishnu az nay chun hikayat mikunad
az juda’iha shikayat mikunad

kaz nayistan ta mara bubridah’and
dar nafiram mard u zan nalidah’and

sinah khwaham sharhah sharhah az firaq
ta biguyam sharh-i dard-i ishtiyaq

har kasi ku dur mand az asl-i khwish
baz juyad ruzgar-i wasl-i khwish


Translation

Listen to the reed flute,
its song of separation:

Ever since I was cut from the reed-bed,
men and women have moaned from my sound.

I need a heart torn by separation,
so you may understand the pain of love’s desire.

Whoever’s been taken from his home
always wishes to return.

The Forms of Sufi Poetry