Five Mystical Ghazals by the Ayatollah Khomeini

Extract

The following ghazals by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were written between 1365/1986 and 1367/1988. They are taken from his Bada-ye ᶜeshq: Ashᶜar-e ᶜarefana-ye Hazrat-e Emam Khomeini (Wine of Love: Mystical Poems by His Eminence Imam Khomeini). The collection includes twenty-three mystical ghazals, a number of quatrains, and some other material. When one approaches late twentieth-century Persian ghazals, the intellectual climate in which we live today compels one to ask a number of questions. Has the contemporary poet mastered and applied the formal requirements that govern the pre-modern style? Are the poems confined to the traditional topics of wine, spring, and unrequited love in all its aspects or do they explore new areas of broader social relevance? Is the contemporary poet following or reacting to earlier poets? Finally, what is the relationship of the poetry to the life of the poet?