www.sattor.com

Khosrow & Shirin c. 1190

Nezami Ganjawi

On lofty Beysitoun the lingering sun looks down on ceaseless labors, long begun: The mountain trembles to the echoing sound Of falling rocks, that from her sides rebound. Each day all respite, all repose denied--- No truce, no pause, the thundering strokes are plied; The mist of night around her summit coils, But still Ferhad, the lover-artist, toils, And still---the flashes of his axe between--- He sighs to ev'ry wind, "Alas! Shirin! Alas! Shirin!---my task is well-nigh done, The goal in view for which I strive alone. Love grants me powers that Nature might deny; And, whatsoe'er my doom, the world shall tell, Thy lover gave to immortality Her name he loved---so fatally---so well!

A hundred arms were weak one block to move Of thousands, molded by the hand of Love Into fantastic shapes and forms of grace, Which crowd each nook of that majestic place. The piles give way, the rocky peaks divide, The stream comes gushing on---a foaming tide! A mighty work, for ages to remain, The token of his passion and his pain. As flows the milky flood from Allah's throne Rushes the torrent from the yielding stone; And sculptured there, amazed, stern Khosrow stands, And sees, with frowns, obeyed his harsh commands: While she, the fair beloved, with being rife, Awakes the glowing marble into life. Ah! hapless youth; ah! toil repaid by woe--- A king thy rival and the world thy foe! Will she wealth, splendor, pomp for thee resign--- And only genius, truth, and passion thine! Around the pair, lo! groups of courtiers wait, And slaves and pages crowd in solemn state; From columns imaged wreaths their garlands throw, And fretted roofs with stars appear to glow! Fresh leaves and blossoms seem around to spring, And feathered throngs their loves are murmuring; The hands of Peris might have wrought those stems, Where dewdrops hang their fragile diadems; And strings of pearl and sharp-cut diamonds shine, New from the wave, or recent from the mine.

"Alas! Shirin!" at every stroke he cries; At every stroke fresh miracles arise: "For thee these glories and these wonders all, For thee I triumph, or for thee I fall; For thee my life one ceaseless toil has been, Inspire my soul anew: Alas! Shirin!"

What raven note disturbs his musing mood? What form comes stealing on his solitude? Ungentle messenger, whose word of ill All the warm feelings of his soul can chill! "Cease, idle youth, to waste thy days," she said, "By empty hopes a visionary made; Why in vain toil thy fleeting life consume To frame a palace?---rather hew a tomb. Even like sere leaves that autumn winds have shed, Perish thy labors, for---Shirin is dead!"

He heard the fatal news---no word, no groan; He spoke not, moved not, stood transfixed to stone. Then, with a frenzied start, he raised on high His arms, and wildly tossed them toward the sky; Far in the wide expanse his axe he flung And from the precipice at once he sprung. The rocks, the sculptured caves, the valleys green, Sent back his dying cry--- "Alas! Shirin!"

Source: Charles F. Horne, ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, New York 1917.

Illustration depicting Khosrow watching Shirin bathing. Shirin bathing in a pool. From p.96 of MS Browne 1434, the Khamsa of Nizami (Persian, 1540). This story comes from the second part of the Khamsa, ‘Khosrow and Shirin Unknown artist Nezami's… Abr Barani Art. Persian Pattern. KHOSROW AND SHIRIN PDF - Like a number of the great Persian romantic narratives, the love story of the SÄs​ Än​ ian king Khusraw II (r. AD) and ShÄ«rÄ«n, the Christian princess from . Read and learn for free about the following article: Khusraw Discovers Shirin Bathing. Khosrow discovers Shirin bathing in a pool, Safavid Dynasty, 16th Century. Well look, he didn’t say “Suppose she’s kiddin’â€.​ And he didn’t say. Author: Zukora Zolotaxe. "Khosrow and Shirin", also spelled Khosrau and Shirn, Chosroes and Shirin, Husraw and Shireen and Khosru and Shirin, is the title of a famous Persian tragic romance. Shirin consents to marry Khosrow after many romantic and heroic episodes. Yet, Shirouyeh, Khosrow's son from his wife Maryam, is also in love with Shirin. He murders his father and sends a messenger to Shirin conveying that after one week, she would have to marry him. Shirin, in order to avoid marrying Shiroyeh, kills herself. Khosrow and Shirin (Persian: خسرو Ùˆ شیرین‎) is the title of a famous tragic romance by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), who also wrote Layla and Majnun. It tells a highly elaborated fictional version of the story of the love of the Sasanian king Khosrow II for the Armenian princess Shirin, who becomes queen of Persia. The essential narrative is a love story of Persian origin which was already well known from the great epico-historical poem the Shahnameh and other Persian writers and