Sohrab Sepehri's dar golestané

Hello and welcome to Lesson 64 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation. In this lesson, we’re going to conclude our language lesson of Sohrab Sepehri’s Dar Golestaneh. To begin, we’re going to hear the full poem as recited by my aunt Farnaz. If you’ve been listening to us up to this point, you should have an understanding of most of the words in this poem, which is pretty exciting!

dashthayee cheh faragh

koohhayee cheh boland

dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad

zendegee khaalee neest

mehrabani hast

seeb hast

eeman hast

aree,

ta shaghayegh hast, zendegee bayad kard

dar deleh man cheezee hast, mesleh yek beesheyeh noor, mesleh khaabeh dameh sobh

va chenan beetabam, keh delam meekhahad

bedavam ta taheh dasht

beravam ta sareh kooh

doorha avayee hast

keh mara meekhaanad

So like we said, we’ve been going a bit out of order with learning the vocab in this poem, and that is because this last section is going to cover language that mirrors itself. If you remember our discussion with Fared,  he made the observation that Sohrab Sepehri in this poem begins with some strong imagery- he places us in a certain place. So in this case, he starts us in this golestaneh, in a place of flowers, and he describes what we see and what we smell. So let’s listen to that part:

dashthayee cheh farakh

koohhayee cheh boland

dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad

This imagery gets repeated in the end of the poem- so let’s go over the language that is repeated, and that is two things you see often in nature. One is dasht

(dasht)

And that means open fields. The second is kooh

(kooh)

And that means mountains

So these are two very different things you see in nature, mountains, and fields. So the word dasht by itself is singular. So field. When he opens the poem, Sepehri says ‘dashthayee’. Dashthayee

(dashthayee)

So this refers to fields- plural and grand. So the fields so wide- not just this one wide field. You’re in place where you’re surrounded by open fields. Which is what farakh means, it means wide- so in this context a wide, open field. Farakh

(farakh)

And the last word in that phrase- dashthayee cheh farakh, is cheh. cheh

(cheh)

And that simply means what. So he’s saying what wide fields. Dashthayee cheh farakh

(dashthayee cheh farakh)

So in this golestaneh, place of flowers, he is at, there are such wide fields. What wide fields! Dashthayee cheh farakh

(dashthayee cheh farakh)

Next, he echoes this sentence by saying koohhayee cheh boland. Now, you should know kooh is mountain, and koohhayee is mountains. Koohhayee

(koohhayee)

And boland simply means tall. Boland

(boland)

So koohhayee cheh boland, what tall mountains. Koohhayee cheh boland

(koohhayee cheh boland)

So by stating it this way, Sepehri is really showing his awe at these elements of nature in the golestaneh. Ok, moving on, the next sentence,

(dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad)

Hopefully you remember dar golestaneh because it’s the name of this poem- golestaneh is the place of flowers. Golestaneh

(golestaneh)

And dar means in. Dar

(dar)

So dar golestaneh, in the place of flowers. Dar golestaneh

(dar golestaneh)

We also hear booyeh alafee, so let’s break that down. The word boo means smell. Boo

(boo)

and alaf is the word for grass, or more specifically, of weeds. So booyeh alaf means the smell of grass

(booyeh alaf)

so cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad. We covered cheh before- it means what. Cheh

(cheh)

And that leaves us with meeyamad. So oomadan is the word for to come. Meeyamad means there was coming- so it’s in the past. Meeyad would mean comes. So it’s a past continuous form- was coming, meeyamad

(meeyamad)

So, in the place of flowers, there was coming such a smell of grass, is a literal translation. So So let’s say this whole part together. Dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad.

(dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad)

Let’s hear my aunt read those first three lines again:

dashthayee cheh faragh

koohhayee cheh boland

dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad

And now let’s go to the last part:

va chenan beetabam, keh delam meekhahad

bedavam ta taheh dasht

beravam ta sareh kooh

Now, this part contains quite a bit of language that’s more poetic than conversational. So we’ll go over how it’s said in the poem, and how you would say this in conversation, since we’re trying to still work on our conversational language anyway. So, the first part

va chenan beetabam

Va is a simple word that means and. You hear this all the time in Persian language. Va

(va)

Then chenan beetabam. Beetab is the word for restless or impatient. So beetab

(beetab)

And beetabam means I am restless beetabam

Chenan is the word you wouldn’t often hear in conversation. It’s a dramatic way of saying so, or how. How restless am I. chenan beetabam

(chenan beetabam)

In conversation, you would probably just say che, meaning how. Che beetabam

(che beetabam)

Chenan is a bit more dramatic and a little too formal for conversation. So chenan beetabam versus just che beetabam, or khayli beetabam- I am very restless. But let’s say it as it’s said in the poem, chenan beetabam

(chenan beetabam)

So again, va chenan beetabam

(va chenan beetabam)

The next part:

(keh delam meekhahad)

This is another phrase you wouldn’t say like this in conversation. Let’s break it down. Keh means that. Keh

keh

And del is the word for heart. del

del

So delam is my heart. Delam

delam

Meekhahad is the word for wants. Meekhahad

meekhahad

So this phrase says ‘that my heart wants’. Keh delam meekhahad

keh delam meekhahad

Now the part that is not conversational is that in conversation, you would simply say ‘keh delam meekhad’ So meekhahad becomes meekhad. Meekhad

meekhad

In the poem, with the rhythm, it worked better to have the written formal version of the word, meekhahad. But no one talks that way. So delam meekhahad becomes delam meekhad in conversation. But not in this poem! Let’s hear the full line again,

va chenan beetabam, keh delam meekhahad

And let’s hear the very last part that we haven’t covered yet:

bedavam ta taheh dasht

beravam ta sareh kooh

Now two words here should be familiar to you. The first is dasht- what does that mean?

And hopefully you got that it means ‘field.’ Dasht

dasht

And the last is the word kooh- what does that mean?

And hopefully you got that kooh means mountain. Kooh

So first he says ‘bedavam ta taheh dasht’. taheh dasht means the edge of the field- tah is the word for end or edge, and taheh dasht means end of the field. Taheh dasht

taheh dasht

And the word ta simply means until, ta

ta

Bedavam is another word that’s different written vs spoken. Bedavam is the formal version of the first person conjugation for to run. Bedavam

bedavam

So bedavam ta taheh dasht means to run to the end of the field, in first person. Bedavam ta taheh dasht

In conversation, bedavam would be bedoam. Bedoam

bedoam

And this is the thing about Persian, it just changes all these words up in conversation- that’s what makes conversational Persian difficult to learn, and what makes our podcast unique. Outside of poetry and written persian, no one would actually say ‘bedovam’- but for some reason, most sources still teach it that way. But anyhow, in the poem, the full line is bedavam ta taheh dasht

bedavam ta taheh dasht

which means to run to the end of the field. And the next line

beravam ta sareh kooh

So sar is the word for head. sar

sar

So sareh kooh is the head of the mountain, meaning the top of the mountain. Sareh kooh

sareh kooh

And similarly, beravam is the written, formal version of to go. Beravam

beravam

In conversational speech, this gets shortened to beram

beram

So beravam ta sareh kooh

beravam ta sareh kooh

or you can say ‘beram ta sareh kooh’

beram ta sareh kooh

So let’s listen to my aunt read this last part once more

dashthayee cheh faragh

koohhayee cheh boland

dar golestaneh cheh booyeh alafee meeyamad

zendegee khaalee neest

mehrabani hast

seeb hast

eeman hast

aree,

ta shaghayegh hast, zendegee bayad kard

dar deleh man cheezee hast, mesleh yek beesheyeh noor, mesleh khaabeh dameh sobh

va chenan beetabam, keh delam meekhahad

bedavam ta taheh dasht

beravam ta sareh kooh

doorha avayee hast

keh mara meekhaanad

And that brings us to the end of our lesson.