To Die Standing Up

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Multiple Personality Disorder
by Multiple Personality Disorder
09-Jun-2012
 

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ترجمه شعر ایستاده مُردن، خواننده شاهین نجفی.

To Die Standing Up

A severed head in between your hands
my eyes on the broken clock

And sad and rebellious poems
and the wolf, unafraid of the gun

On my doubts of the origin of existence,
on choking loneliness when drunk

And longing and inhaling you,
and the depth of the tragedy; not seeing you

The artery's destiny is obstruction,
and your crime, a scream against the wind

The end of the story is always a bitter one,
and the poet whose conviction is apostasy

The good God sleeping in my book,
the dried semen on my bed

The good God of wrath, death, and religious decree,
and my cries over Yaghma's poetry

Let me be like a cactus
Stay with me, as reading poetry,
next to you, with covenant with desert,
that our code is to die standing up

Tell them, my story was a tale of blood,
contempt, born out of insanity

Tell them, how I did not give in
Tell them, how I died standing up

Translated by MPD © 2012

Footnote: I see Shahin Najafi’s latest song as a universal message of standing up for one's rights and willingness to pay for those rights with his own life, taking a stand against tyranny; and as such, I have tried to translate his poem with a universal appeal, so I have foregone using words such as ‘hadith’ and ‘fatwa.’ used in the poem. There is also a reference to "Yaghma," who is Yaghma Golrouee, a contemporary Iranian poet.

ترجمه شعر ایستاده مُردن،  خواننده شاهین نجفی

Translation of a poem by Shahin Najafi called "To Die Standing Up"

 

ایستاده مُردن

سری میان دست تو بریده// نگاه من به ساعت پوکیده
و شعرهای غمگین و عاصی //و گرگ خسته کز تفنگ نترسیده
به شبهه های من به اصل هستی //به بغض بی کسیت وقت مستی
وحسرت تو را و بو کشیدن// و عمق فاجعه: تو را ندیدن
رگی که سرنوشتش انسداد است// وجرم تو که داد پیش باد است
همیشه انتهای قصه تلخ است //و شاعری که حکم اش ارتداد است
خدای خوبِ خوابِ تو کتابم //منی خشک روی تخت خوابم
خدای خوبِ خشم و قتل و فتوا //و گریه های من به شعر یغما
مرا بخوان به کاکتوس ماندن // بمان کنار من که شعر خواندن
کنار تو به عهد با کویری// که رمز ماست ایستاده مردن
بگو حدیث ما حدیث خون بود //شرارتی که ناشی از جنون بود
بگو چگونه ما واندادیم //بگو که مردیم و ایستادیم
خدای خوبِ خوابِ تو کتابم //منی خشک روی تخت خوابم
خدای خوب ِخشم و قتل و فتوا// و گریههای من به شعر یغما
مرا بخوان به کاکتوس ماندن //بمان کنار من که شعر خواندن
کنار تو به عهد با کویری //که رمز ماست ایستاده مردن
که رمز ماست ایستاده مردن
که رمز ماست ایستاده مردن
که رمز ماست ایستاده مردن

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more from Multiple Personality Disorder
 
divaneh

Excellent

by divaneh on

Thanks MPD jaan for this fine translation of Najafi's song.


Latina

..........

by Latina on

MPD

 Merci


yolanda

..........

by yolanda on

Shahin looks like a defiant rebel in his photo!

"To die standing up" pretty much sums up Iranian people! From my observation of last three years, Iranians rather die standing up than kneeling alive! To die standing up set Iranians apart from the rest of the world!

IRI made a stupid mistake by issuing a fatwa death sentence on Shahin. IRI's action is putting Shahin and his music in the international spotlight and "promoting" Shahin's music! Before the fatwa was issued, I did not know who Shahin was at all, now I want to know more about his music repertoire!

Wow! He mentioned my favorite plant "cactus" in his song!

Here is a rap song by Shahin with the image of Farahani holding a wine bottle(?)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-i7_wzxRek

Here is Yaghma, the shaggy poet:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=C744mAzXXk0

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Z3AOqRvas&feature=related

Thank you, MPD, for the 2 great blogs in one week!

Thank you for your contribution to this site!


Azarin Sadegh

Bravo!

by Azarin Sadegh on

Thank you so much, dear MPD, for this fine work!

This is a wonderful translation of the  original lyrics...and for some strange reason I get this English version better than the persian one (it must be my farsi-e aab rafteh"..:-)

Thanks again! 

 


Maryam Hojjat

MPD, Thanks for

by Maryam Hojjat on

Translation of this great Shahin's Poet.


Nazy Kaviani

Beautiful translation

by Nazy Kaviani on

An absolutely beautiful translation of a very meaningful and special song. Thank you MPD for bringing Shahin Najafi's voice to more people in the world. This man needs to be heard.


amirparvizforsecularmonarchy

Thanks

by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on

thank you MPD

well done.

I'm proud of you, as an Iranian for your growth and what you share, your last few blogs have been fascinating and timely.

you are in your way allowing others to shine which is deeply idealistic and it's very fun to share in your ideas.

merci


vildemose

Thank you so much. I'm so

by vildemose on

Thank you so much. I'm so grateful for your hard work translating this epic piece.

 

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir