Simin Behbahani's dobāré meesāzamat vatan

Salam bé hamegee, hello and welcome to Part 2 of our discussion on Simin Behbahani’s dobāré meesāzamat vatan. I’m so happy you’ve joined!

So in Part 1 about this poem, I was joined by Dr. Sahba Shayani- we started with an introduction to Simin Behbahani and her poetry, and this poem in particular. I want to let you all know- I always have my aunt, khaleh Farnaz, read the lines of the poems we learn so that we can use them both in these lessons, and also on the website so you can listen to it being recited clearly as you’re learning it. In the case of this poem, I sent it to her to record, and after a while she wrote me back and let me know it was taking her a bit longer to record because it was making her really emotional as she read it.

As we said in the intro, I think this poem is so applicable to today, and it just shows the dedication and hard work and sacrifice that it takes to rebuild a homeland- to show what it really takes.

So, as I said, in that introductory lesson, we got the overall poem and the full meaning. In these subsequent lessons, we’re going to go over the poem in sections, and carefully look at every word and every phrase in the poem. As we continue to study the poem and its individual pieces and words and phrases, I find that something really interesting happens- our understanding of the poem deepens, as does our understanding of these words and phrases in the Persian language. The poem becomes a part of us, and so do these words- and you’ll find that you’ll be able to use them in every day conversation. It will elevate the way you think in Persian and the way you express yourself in Persian.

In Iranian culture, poetry and prose are not separate- they are one, and it’s only natural that we too would learn poetry at the same time as we are learning the Persian language.

So without further ado, let’s get into this poem.

Now, usually at this point, we will listen to my aunt’s recitation of the full poem, but because this is such a long one, I would like to focus on just the piece we’ll be learning today. So, let’s hear her recitation of the first six lines of the poem:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

dobāré meebooyam az tō gol

دوباره می‌بویم از تو گُل،

Once again I will smell your flowers

bé maylé naslé javāné tō

به میل نسل جوان تو

Through the endeavor of your generation of youth

Wonderful. And you might not have understood any words in that just yet, but don’t worry- by the time we’re done with this lesson, you’ll understand all of it. So let’s begin with the first line:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

The title line of the poem. So dobāré meesāzamat vatan- translated as once again I will build you, O homeland. Let’s begin with that word vatan- which is a really important word in the Persian language. Vatan means homeland. vatan

(vatan)

So when I say a word, I want you to repeat it with me out loud. This is the absolute best way to learn. So vatan

(vatan)

And of course Iranians use this word to refer to Iran, but vatan can be anywhere that you’re from. And it’s such a loaded word and carries so much emotion and weight. Vatan

(vatan)

And then dobāré. Dobāré means again, or once again. dobāré

(dobāré)

So this is one of those interesting Iranian words that when you really think about it, makes a lot of sense. Dō is the word for two. Dō

(dō)

and bār means an instance. bār

(bār)

and dobāré means two instances. Meaning something that happens twice, or happens again. So yek bār means one time, dō bār means two times. So dobāré put together means happens again- so once again. dōbāré

(dōbāré)

and sākhtan is the verb for to build. sākhtan

(sākhtan)

and the first person conjugation for I will build is meesāzam

(meesāzam)

and meesāzamat means I will build you. meesāzamat

(meesāzamat)

Now, I want to pause here and say if you’re not understanding the exact grammar of all of this, especially if you’re brand new to the Persian language, don’t worry. The point isn’t to get every single bit of grammar and every single word. It’s to understand these words in the context of the poem, and then to later see the patterns in all the words we’re learning. So this is an immersive style of learning- we’ll go back in our speak lessons and fill in the language and grammar lessons.

So again I will build you is meesāzamat

(meesāzamat)

And dobāré meesāzamat means I will build you again. dobāré meesāzamat

(dobāré meesāzamat)

and then she ends it with vatan, or homeland. vatan

(vatan)

So altogether it’s dobāré meesāzamat vatan

(dobāré meesāzamat vatan)

Wonderful.

Let’s listen to that first line along with the second line of the poem:

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

So the next line is agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh. This is such a beautiful line- let’s break it down. agar ché together means although or albeit. agar ché

(agar ché)

Sahba translated it here as even if, which also works, but I think albeit is a bit closer to the meaning- agar ché

(agar ché)

and then bā is a very simple word and means with. bā

(bā)

and then kheshté jāné kheesh. so khesht is the word for brick. khesht

and jān means life or soul. jān

(jān)

and finally kheesh means myself. kheesh

(kheesh)

so kheshté jāné kheesh means the bricks of the life of my self. So that é sound between each word is what we call ezāfé and in this case, it denotes that each of these words is describing the next word. so kheshté jān means the bricks of the life or soul. kheshté jān

(kheshté jān)

and then kheshté jāné kheesh connects the bricks of the soul to one more word, and that is kheesh or self- so all together it’s the bricks of the soul of my self. kheshté jāné kheesh

(kheshté jāné kheesh)

So altogether it’s albeit with the bricks of the soul of my self. agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh. so I will rebuild you my homeland, albeit with the bricks of the soul of my self. So let’s repeat this slowly together-

dobāré meesāzamat

(dobāré meesāzamat)

vatan

(vatan)

agar ché

(agar ché)

bā kheshté

(bā kheshté)

jāné kheesh

(jāné kheesh)

All right wonderful. Now, let’s listen to the first two lines we just went over, and then listen to the next two lines we’ll be going over next:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

Ok wonderful, and hopefully you understood those first two lines. Now the next two. First, sotoon bé saghfé to meezanam

So let’s start with the word sotoon. This simply means column. sotoon

(sotoon)

and then the very simple word bé, which means to

(bé)

so sotoon bé saghfé tō. so again we have that ezāfé sound in there linking saghfé tō. So first tō means you in the informal sense. tō

(tō)

So we have two forms of you in the Persian language- formal and informal. formal you is shomā

(shomā)

and informal you is tō

(tō)

so the poet is referring to vatan, or homeland in a familiar and intimate way here. tō

(tō)

and the word saghf means roof. saghf

(saghf)

so saghfé tō is the roof of you. so your roof. saghfé tō

(saghfé tō)

so again, that ezāfé can be seen as an ‘of’ here, where the first word is describing the second word. so what type of roof? the roof of you, so in other words, your roof. saghfé tō

and then meezanam.

(meezanam)

We had a word that started with mee before- meesāzamat. And we said meesāzam means I will build. So this construction is a future tense construction. so meezanam means I will put in this context. So sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam literally means a column to your roof I will place. So I will raise columns to your roof, as Sahba translated it. Let’s say this all piece by piece together-

sotoon bé

(sotoon bé)

saghfé tō

(saghfé tō)

meezanam

(meezanam)

Ok wonderful. The next line:

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

And this is so nice because it’s repeating exactly what we heard in that second line- agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

Albeit with the bricks of my own being.

In this case, she again says agar ché which means albeit. agar ché

(agar ché)

and then again bā or with. bā

(bā)

and she again uses kheesh or my self, but she says ostokhāné kheesh. ostokhān is the word for bonel ostokhān

(ostokhān)

and osokhāné kheesh, the bones of my self. in other words, my bones. ostokhāné kheesh

(ostokhāné kheesh)

Ok wonderful! Let’s repeat this full line together piece by piece:

agar ché

(agar ché)

bā ostokhāné kheesh

(bā ostokhāné kheesh)

Wonderful! Now let’s listen to the full selection we’re learning today, the first four lines we’ve already gone over, and the last two we’ll be going over:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

dobāré meebooyam az tō gol

دوباره می‌بویم از تو گُل،

Once again I will smell your flowers

bé maylé naslé javāné tō

به میل نسل جوان تو

Through the endeavor of your generation of youth

Ok great- hopefully you understood that first part and were able to follow along. Now the last two lines. First, dobāré meebooyam az tō gol. We have dobāré in there again- remember what that means? It means again, once again. dobāré

(dobāré)

and then meebooyam. So we’ve had meesāzam, I will build, and then meezanam, I will put. Now meebooyam. boo means smell, and meebooyam is I will smell. meebooyam

(meebooyam)

Now, this isn’t really the modern way you would say this in conversation. In conversational Persian, we use the compound verb boo kardan, which is literally to do a smell. boo kardan

(boo kardan)

So I would put the conjugation on the second word, boo meekonam, I will smell. boo meekonam

(boo meekonam)

But you can also use the word boo or smell as a verb and in this case, conjugate it as meebooyam, I will smell

meebooyam

(meebooyam)

so dobāré meebooyam

(dobāré meebooyam)

Or I will again smell. and then az tō gol. az is the word from. az

(az)

and tō again is the informal you. tō

(tō)

and finally gol is the word for flower. gol

(gol)

so az tō gol, from you, or of you flower. az tō gol

so dobāré meebooyam az tō gol, I will again smell from you flowers. Or as Sahba translated it, Once again I will smell your flowers

Let’s repeat this together- dobāré meebooyam

(dobāré meebooyam)

az tō gol

(az tō gol)

and finally the last line-

(bé maylé naslé javāné tō)

And this is an interesting line. So mayl is the word for desire. and naslé javān is the word for young generation. so nasl is the word for generation. nasl

(nasl)

and javān means youth. javān

so naslé javān means the generation of youth. naslé javān

and then let’s add mayl, or desire in there- so maylé naslé javān- the desire of the generation of youth. maylé naslé javān

(maylé naslé javān)

and we have one last word in there, and it’s tō, which hopefully you know by now. It’s the informal conjugation of you. tō

(tō)

so all together maylé naslé javāné tō is the desire or the will of the generation of youth of you. so the will of your generation of youth. maylé naslé javāné tō

(maylé naslé javāné tō)

and finally bé here means to or by. bé

(bé)

so altogther bé maylé naslé javāné tō, means by the will of your generation of youth. and of course again, it’s referring to the homeland’s generation of youth- so I will smell your flowers again, by the will of your generation of youth. Let’s repeat this full part:

bé maylé

(bé maylé)

naslé javāné tō

(naslé javāné tō)

Ok wonderful! That’s all for the individual words- let’s now listen to this full selection as read by Farnaz:

dobāré meesāzamat vatan

دوباره می‌سازمت وطن!

Once again I will build you, O homeland,

agar ché bā kheshté jāné kheesh

اگر چه با خِشت جان خویش

Even if with the bricks of my very own being

sotoon bé saghfé tō meezanam

ستون به سقف تو می‌زنم،

I’ll raise columns to your roof

agar ché bā ostokhāné kheesh

اگر چه با استخوان خویش

Even if it be with my very own bones

dobāré meebooyam az tō gol

دوباره می‌بویم از تو گُل،

Once again I will smell your flowers

bé maylé naslé javāné tō

به میل نسل جوان تو

Through the endeavor of your generation of youth

Ok wonderful, and hopefully this time around, you will have understood all these words at least a bit.

So over the next week, go over these individual words and phrases in the pdf guide for this lesson- really understand them individually. Try to write them out in your own handwriting, post them up somewhere you can see them, and start to really understand this poem.

That’s it for this week- we are going to take these nice and slowly. Excited to learn the next part with you in our next lesson.

Until then, thank you so much for listening, and

khodāhāfez,

from,

Leyla