BAKHTI

(Sultan Ahmed I)

1026 Hijra [1617 AD]

Buy ersa jan meshammina fasl-i baharden

O THAT a fragant breath might reach the soul from early spring !
O that with warbling sweet of birds the groves once more might ring !
O that in melody the songs anew might rose-like swell !
That fresh in grace and voice the nightingale be heard to sing !
O that the New Year’s Day were come, when minding times gone by, *
Should each and all from Time and Fate demand their reckoning !
In short, O BAKHTI, would the early vernal days were here,
Then, ‘midst the mead, ne’er should we part from brink of limpid spring.

[ Source: Ottoman Poems ]
[ Published: 1882 ]
[ Translated by: E J W Gibb ]

* Nev-Rus, “The New Day”, the first day of the new year with the ancient Persians, is the “New Year’s Day” of the Muslim poets. It is the day when the Sun enters Aries.