Comments on: Love and Yearning

Love and Yearning

moonbird — Sun, 19 Oct 2003 18:52:58 -0800

Love and Yearning: mystical and moral themes in Persian poetry and painting. (Flash req'd)

By: clavdivs

clavdivs — Sun, 19 Oct 2003 19:15:03 -0800

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:45:32 -0800

Beautiful exhibition moonbird, and a good example of how a poster with a reputation for quality posts and a well-designed online exhibit can lead me to explore a topic that I probably wouldn't have sought out on my own. Thanks ;-) The main site has some other excellent online exhibitions too - I especially liked this exploration of Whistler's Peacock Room.

By: Pericles

Pericles — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 08:39:57 -0800

nothing to say except, moonbird - great post!

By: plep

plep — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 12:30:12 -0800

Sweet, thanks moonbird.

By: lobakgo

lobakgo — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 12:48:50 -0800

Oh yum! What a great online exhibit. I've been looking for reproductions of Persian miniatures for ages and still no luck. Thanks moonbird!

By: moonbird

moonbird — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 14:06:26 -0800

My pleasure entirely! I love discovering 'new' poets (by new I mean 600 years old but previously unbeknownst to me) and this artwork is spectacular. Quite absorbing... The Smithsonian has excellent exhibitions online and is worth a good exploration.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:11:53 -0800

Great post (as usual), and I'm definitely going to go see the exhibition. To show my appreciation, here's a poem from a book I recently bought, Hafiz of Shiraz: Thirty poems by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs:

Boy, bring the cup, and circulate the wine: How easy at first love seemed, but now the snags begin. How many hearts lie bleeding, waiting for the wind-loosed musk Out of those tresses—the bright twist of black curls? For what security have we here in this halting-place, Where every moment the bell clangs "Strap up your packs"? Stain your prayer-mat with wine if the Master tells you: That seasoned voyager knows the ways of the road. But travelling light, what can these land-lubbers know of it— Black night, our fear of the waves, and the horrible whirlpool? My self-willed love will sink my reputation: The truth leaks out; they make a ballad of it at their meetings. If you seek his presence, Hafiz, do not let him alone: And when you meet his face, you can tell the world to go hang.

(If you're interested, there are seven other translations of the poem here.)