Baba Taher's khoshā emshō

salām bé hamegee and welcome to Part Two of our discussion on Baba Taher’s “khoshā emshō.” So, as we mentioned in the introductory lesson, this is a very unique poem in that it uses a different dialect than the one we usually teach in Chai and Conversation. So we’re going to go over the poem but also learn how to say the words and phrases in the poem in everyday modern conversation. First, let’s listen to my aunt Farnaz recite the entire poem:

khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!

kabootar vār bar boomé shomā-yom.

torshrooyee makon, mehmooné azeez!

khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

All right, wonderful! So let’s begin with the first line:

khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!

Let’s begin with “khoshā emshō.” Repeat that after me: “khoshā emshō!”

khoshā emshō!

And as always, when I say a word, please repeat it out loud after me: khoshā emshō!

khoshā emshō!

“emshō” means ‘tonight’, and again, this is with the Hamedani accent. With the Tehrani dialect, which is the version we speak here on Chai and Conversation, that becomes “emshab.” emshab.

emshab

So “shab” is the word for ‘night’, and to say ‘tonight’, we say “emshab.”

emshab

So “shab,” that's just ‘night’. “emshab,” ‘tonight’. emshab.

emshab

And “khoshā” means ‘good time’ or ‘happy’. khoshā.

khoshā

And again, this is with the Hamedani dialect, so it’s not really something you hear in everyday conversation. We do use the word “khosh” a lot, and that simply means ‘happy’ or ‘joyous’. khosh.

khosh

So for instance, “khoshhāl” means ‘happy’, ‘a happy mood’. khoshhāl.

khoshhāl

So you can say ‘I am happy’ by saying “khoshhāl-am.” 

khoshhālam

So “khoshā emshō!” means ‘what a happy night!’ or ‘I am happy tonight’. khoshā emshō!

khoshā emshō

And then “ké mehmooné shomā-yom”: “mehmoon” is such an important word in Persian. It means ‘guest’. mehmoon.

mehmoon

And “mehmooné shomā” means ‘your guest’. “shomā” is the formal word for ‘you’. shomā.

shomā

So “mehmooné shomā,” ‘your guest’, in the formal sense. mehmooné shomā.

mehmooné shomā

And that “-é” sound we hear between the two words is called the “ezāfé,” and it shows that the “mehmoon” belongs to “shomā,” so it's ‘your guest’. The guest belongs to you. mehmooné shomā.

mehmooné shomā

And again, the “-yom” sound at the end is the Hamedani dialect, and it marks possession. It means ‘I am your guest’. mehmooné shomā-yom.

mehmooné shomā-yom

In Tehrani dialect, we say “mehmooné shomā-am.”

mehmooné shomā-am

And finally, the word “ké” means ‘that’. ké.

ké

So “khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!” all together means ‘what a happy night that I am your guest!’, ‘how happy the night is because I’m your guest!’. Let’s repeat the full thing together. khoshā emshō.

khoshā emshō

ké mehmooné

ké mehmooné

shomā-yom

shomā-yom

And let's repeat the full sentence. I'll say the full sentence, and then you repeat it after me. khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!

khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!

Great! Next sentence:

kabootar vār bar boomé shomā-yom.

So the word “kabootar” is a very common one. It’s ‘pigeon’. kabootar.

kabootar

And in Iranian culture, pigeons are not seen as dirty animals the way they are in some places. They’re common but sweet. kabootar.

kabootar

And “vār” means ‘like’. vār.

vār

And this is not a word you hear often in conversation, but we hear it in poetry a lot, and twice even in this poem. “kabootar vār” simply means ‘like a pigeon’. kabootar vār.

kabootar vār

Next, “bar boomé shomā-yom.” “bar” is the word for ‘on’. bar.

bar

And “boom” is the word for ‘balcony’. boom.

boom

So now, in the first sentence, we had “mehmooné shomā-yom.” Here, we have “bar boomé shomā-yom.” “boomé shomā” means ‘your balcony’. boomé shomā.

boomé shomā

And “bar boomé shomā-yom” means ‘I am on your balcony’. bar boomé shomā-yom.

bar boomé shomā-yom

Now, let’s repeat the whole thing: kabootar vār bar boomé shomā-yom.

kabootar vār bar boomé shomā-yom.

All right! Now let’s hear my aunt Farnaz recite the last two lines:

torshrooyee makon, mehmooné azeez!

khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

Okay, let’s begin with that first line: torshrooyee makon, mehmoon azeez-é! toroshrooyee makon, mehmoon azeez-é! So let's begin with “toroshrooyee.” Farnaz adds a syllable in there, “toroshrooyee,” to make the rhyme and rhythm work, so let’s pronounce it like that: toroshrooyee.

toroshrooyee

So “roo” means ‘face’. roo.

roo

And “torsh” means ‘sour’. torsh.

torsh

So “torshrooyee” means ‘having a sour face’, and that is how it would be pronounced in conversation: torshrooyee.

torshrooyee

But, as you can see, that's a little difficult to say, “torshrooyee," and also, it doesn't make sense with the syllables in the poem, so in this poem, it gets changed to “toroshrooyee.”

toroshrooyee

And “makon!” means ‘do not!’. makon!

makon!

In conversational Persian, this becomes “nakon.” nakon!

nakon!

So “makon!” vs. “nakon!” so “toroshrooyee makon!” means ‘don’t make a sour face!’. toroshrooyee makon!

toroshrooyee makon!

And this is just saying ‘don’t be grumpy!’. And then “mehmoon azeez-é.” “mehmoon,” again, is the word for ‘guest’. mehmoon.

mehmoon

And “azeez” is the word for ‘dear’. azeez.

azeez

So “mehmoon azeez-é” means ‘a guest is dear’. mehmoon azeez-é.

mehmoon azeez-é

So ‘don’t be sour; guests are dear!’. toroshrooyee makon, mehmoon azeez-é!

toroshrooyee makon, mehmoon azeez-é!

And finally:

khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

So “khodā” is the word for ‘God’. khodā.

khodā

And “dooné” is short for “meedooné,” which means ‘knows’. meedooné.

meedooné

So “khodā meedooné!” ‘God knows!’. “khodā meedooné!”

khodā meedooné!

And this is used all the time in conversation. It doesn't necessarily have a religious connotation. Just like in English, we throw out there “God knows!” or “Lord knows!” It's not necessarily religious. It just is a saying: “khodā meedooné!” ‘God knows!’. So, khodā dooné!

khodā dooné!

And then “fardā” is the word for ‘tomorrow’. fardā.

fardā

And “shō,” as we learned before, is ‘night’. shō.

shō

So “fardā shō,” ‘tomorrow night’. fardā shō.

fardā shō

And remember, earlier, we learned “emshō," which means ‘tonight’. So “emshō," ‘tonight’, “fardā shō,” ‘tomorrow night’. emshō.

emshō

And fardā shō.

fardā shō

And just like in conversation Persian, “emshō" is actually “emshab.” “fardā shō” in, today, everyday Persian is “fardā shab.” fardā shab.

fardā shab

Then “kojā-yom?” So first, “kojā” is the word for ‘where’. kojā?

kojā?

And “kojā-yom?” is the Hamedani accent version of “kojām?” That’s how you would say it in modern conversational Persian: kojām?

kojām?

And, in the Hamedani version of the poem, “kojā-yom?”

kojā-yom?

And “ké,” of course, we’ve learned before. In this context, it means ‘that’. ké.

ké

So all together, "khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!" literally would be translated to ‘God knows that tomorrow night, where I am!’ so ‘Lord knows where I’ll be tomorrow night!’. Let’s repeat all that together: khodā dooné!

khodā dooné!

ké fardā shō

ké fardā shō

kojā-yom?

kojā-yom?

And again, let me repeat the full thing, and you repeat the full thing after me: khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

So it’s saying ‘enjoy this night, because who knows what tomorrow night will bring!’. 

So again, let’s listen to the full poem, read by my aunt:

khoshā emshō ké mehmooné shomā-yom!

kabootar vār bar boomé shomā-yom.

torshrooyee makon, mehmooné azeez!

khodā dooné ké fardā shō kojā-yom!

I absolutely love this poem. I love the imagery that it evokes, the imagery of this guest perched on the balcony like a pigeon! I even love that it acknowledges that yes, sometimes guests can be an inconvenience, so, as he’s saying, don’t be sour, don’t be grumpy; acknowledge that having a guest is a privilege! So I love the message of joy and community, that in the end, who knows where we’ll be, that the important thing is to enjoy this moment now that we have together.

It reminds me of so many other poems we’ve learned. In fact, Khayyam’s “khosh bāsh” is a great companion to this poem. We’ll link to it in the show notes in case you haven't looked into that one already.

As always, I’m so excited to hear your thoughts on the poem! We also ask that you memorize this poem and send us a video of yourself reciting it in a beautiful location. We’ll have the link to where to do that on the show notes of this lesson.

Thank you so much for listening, and until next time, khodāhāfez from Leyla!