Today is the 538th anniversary of Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, the founder and the first Emperor of the Mughal Empire that ruled in India for three centuries, a descendant of Amir Temur, a military adventurer, a soldier of distinction and a genius poet. His “Memoirs”, also known as “Babur-Nama”, still serve as a unique resource to study history, geography and culture of Central Asia, Afghanistan and India of that period.
Let us share with you one of his masterpieces:
Petal upon petal, my heart is like the rosebud.
If there would be even 100,000 springs it would not open.
If I wished to pass through the garden without the one whose brow is a bow
The flowering cypress would be like an arrow for the eye
and a fire for the heart.
Why should I stroll in the garden in spring,
since in my poem
The beloved’s face is a flower, his/her hair – a hyacinth
and body – a cypress.
Finding ease in the pleasure of union is difficult.
While relinquishing life due to the pain of separation is easy.
O Babur, could I die encircled with sighs about his/her brow.
Even though I encircled that fairy-like realm in my bier.
Translated by Stebleva, 1982