Maranjan Delam Ra Ke

'Do not distress my heart — for this wild bird / Once it rises from a roof, settles again with great difficulty' — the heart as wild bird (murgh-e-wahshi) is a classical image for something that cannot be tamed. Unlike a dove that returns to its roost, the wild bird is not bound to the hand that fed it. Once startled from a roof, it may not be seen again. The plea to the beloved is minimal: do not frighten what is already precarious.

'May the dear Aziz of Zulaikha die / So that Joseph may sit upon the throne of splendor' — the reference is to Sura Yusuf in the Quran and to the vast Persian literary elaboration of that story. Zulaikha is the wife of Aziz who loves Joseph (Yusuf) with absolute, overwhelming devotion that spans decades. Her husband is the obstacle to their union; the speaker wishes him dead so union becomes possible. To invoke this story in a love poem is to measure one's own devotion against one of the most celebrated in all of Persian literature.

'Be proud that Layla sits in the palanquin / May her grief settle in the secret chamber of the heart' — the poem moves from the Yusuf story to Layla and Majnun. The mahmal (palanquin) is the enclosed litter in which women traveled; Layla in her palanquin is sealed away from Majnun in the desert. The poem collects these archetypes of impossible love around its own situation — not claiming to equal them, but measuring itself against their scale.