ای بلبل خوش الحان
Ay Bulbule Khosh Elhan
“O Nightingale of Sweet Melody”
Lyrics
Lyrics updated · July 2026English Translation
O sweet-voiced nightingale, you had a covenant with the rose Arise — spring has come, make your home with the rose-bush
O passion-stirring nightingale, your passion scatters sparks Arise — spring has come, the land is a garden because of you
O passion-stirring nightingale, I take pride in your love Arise — spring has come, I stake my life on your love
Transliteration
Ay bulbule khos elhan, ba gul bowadat payman Bar khez bahar amad, ba gulbane gul kho kon
Ay bulbule shor angez, shore tu sharar bar ast Bar khez bahar amad, keshwar ze tu gulzar ast
Ay bulbule shor angez, man ishqe tura nazam Bar khez bahar amad, bar ishqe tu jan bazam
متن اصلی
ای بُلبُل خوش الحان، با گل بودت پيمان برخيز بهار آمد، با گلبن گل خو کن
ای بلبل شور انگيز، شور تو شرر بار است بر خيز بهار آمد، کشور ز تو گلزار است
ای بلبل شور انگيز، من عشق تو را نازم بر خيز بهار آمد، بر عشق تو جان بازم
O sweet-voiced nightingale, you had a covenant with the rose — arise, spring has come. The ancient bulbul-and-gul pairing invoked as mutual obligation: the nightingale owes its voice to the rose, and now the season has arrived.
About This Recording
The nightingale (bulbul) and the rose (gul) are the most established symbolic pair in Persian literature, used by poets from Saadi to Hafiz to Rumi. The bulbul sings because of the gul — or, in the Sufi reading, the lover laments because of the beauty that causes longing. The rose blooms; the nightingale sings in response. This is not metaphor but the world's proper order.
'You had a covenant with the rose' — the nightingale and the rose have a pact (ahd). This obligation, contracted before spring arrived, is now due. 'Arise — spring has come' is the summons: the season has opened the rose, which means the nightingale must now perform its half of the covenant. Spring is both context and command.
'Your passion scatters sparks / The land is a garden because of you' — the nightingale's singing is productive; it transforms the landscape. Ahmad Zahir, whom his Habibia high school audiences called Bulbul-e-Habibia (nightingale of Habibia), sang this genre of song as something personal rather than merely conventional. He was the singer identified with the bulbul through his career.
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