از نازو چه میخندانی
Az Naazo Chi Mekhandani
“From Coquetry, What Are You Laughing At”
Lyrics
Lyrics updated · July 2026English Translation
Why do you laugh with such coquetry at the eye that weeps? This eye once laughed too — this eye that now weeps
Not only from these people full of pretense and hypocrisy But even from its own pupil it has seen evil — this eye that weeps
A hundred hidden wounds does this chest carry that laughs A hundred kinds of calamity has this eye seen — this eye that weeps
Transliteration
Az naazo chi mekhandi, bar didah ke megeryad? Ein didah zamane neez khandida, ke megeryad
Tanha na az ein mardom, sad roy o reya dida Az mardomake khod ham, bad didah ke megeryad
Sad daghe nehaan darad, ein seena ke mekhandad Sad goonah balaa didast ein didah ke megeryad
متن اصلی
از ناز چه می خندی ، بر ديده که می گريد؟ اين ديده زمانی نيز خنديده ، که می گريد
تنها نه از اين مردم ، صد روی و ريا ديده از مردمک خود هم ، بد ديده که می گريد
صد داغ نهان دارد ، اين سينه که می خندد صد گونه بلا ديدست اين ديده که می گريد
Why do you laugh with coquetry at the eye that weeps? This eye once laughed too. A hundred hidden wounds does this chest carry that laughs — a portrait of concealed grief beneath a public surface.
About This Recording
'Why do you laugh with such coquetry at the eye that weeps? / This eye once laughed too — this eye that now weeps' — the historical claim is the poem's most important: this weeping eye was not always a weeping eye. It had a before. The coquetry (naaz) of the beloved, laughing at the speaker's tears, is compared unfavorably to what the eye itself once did. The beloved's laughter is mocking what was once her counterpart.
'Not only from these people full of pretense and hypocrisy / But even from its own pupil it has seen evil' — the eye has seen betrayal from within itself. The pupil (mardum-e-chashm) — literally 'the people of the eye' — is also the word for human beings; the dual meaning suggests that the eye's own humanity, its capacity to see and to feel, has become a source of harm.
'A hundred hidden wounds does this chest carry that laughs / A hundred kinds of calamity has this eye seen — this eye that weeps' — the final image is of the split between inner and outer: the chest that laughs publicly is carrying a hundred wounds privately. The eye weeps, the chest laughs. The public surface and private truth are not the same, and the poem's function is to name what the laughing chest conceals.
More Songs
Not sure what to listen to next?
Discover Ahmad Zahir by Mood →