![]() ![]() No words about last winter can bring cheer ĭon’t speak of yesterday - rejoice today.Īnother poem with overtones of New Year is this: The face you glimpse beyond the blooms grants bliss. The spring breeze on a rose’s cheek spreads joy. But it is in the original a “New Year’s breeze.” In the first poem, below, I substituted “spring” for Now Ruz, since the spring references with regard to the New Year would have been confusing for Anglophone audiences. Last April, I brought out a new translation of the Rubaiyat, which has been called “aggressively modern.” The poetry had been made famous by the rendering of the Victorian translator, Edward FitzGerald. ![]() So although in all cultures, New Year’s is a time of renewal and rebirth, in Iran it coincides with the beginning of spring and not just, as in Christian culture, the beginning of the end of winter. ![]() Here’s the thing: in ancient, Zoroastrian, Iran, New Year’s Day was celebrated on the vernal equinox (21 or 20 March). 1131), four-line Persian poems, are often about renewal, and some make special mention of New Year’s Day (Now-Ruz in Persian). The quatrains or Rubaiyat attributed to the medieval astronomer Omar Khayyam (d. After the dark year of 2020, I thought it might be nice to talk about poetry and rebirth today. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |