MCMIII
The Festival of Spring
from
The Díván of Jeláleddín
Rendered in English Gazels after Rückert’s Versions
Professor Hermann Ethé.
‘The greatest Mystical Poet of any Age.’
Reynold A. Nicholson.
‘And all the Breeze of Fancy blows,
And every Dew-drop paints a bow,
The wizard Lightnings deeply glow,
And every Thought breaks out a Rose.’
Tennyson.
My ever faithful Friend
in Adversity, as in Prosperity
Old Songs are sweetest
Old Friends are best
Note
The current, popular spelling of Persian Names and Words has been generally adopted in the following pages, in order to avoid any appearance of pedantry. The Turkish forms have occasionally been preferred when in place, e.g. Devlet for Daulat, and Mevlānā for Maulānā. The exact transliteration of the Persian—such as Jalálu-‘d-Din, Shams-ud-Din, Umar, Ghasal, Díwán—will be found in the foot-note references to more learned Works.