Y.Z. Kami

Y. Z. Kami - Untitled, 2005
oil on linen

First I saw this portrait, in the lobby of Freer Gallery: it had a strange mix of vigor and wisdom, a strong male in mystic contemplation.

Then I saw a huge construction of concentric circles with a void in the center. As I was coming closer I noticed that color was subtly changing from one circle to the other and each circle was composed by small cassettes containing text. The characters were Arabic. There were thousands of Arabic characters.

The whole had a title: it was the Masnavi of Rumi; the verses were painted in each small cassette within the circles.

Y. Z. Kami - The Book of Massnavi'I Manavi of Rumi, 2008
oil and paper on linen

Six books of poetry, about twenty-six thousand verses: this is the Masnavi of Rumi. It's Rumi, so they are Sufi poems, chanting the intrinsic meaning of all things. It's Rumi and it's Sufi, so the poems are allegoric, fed by Persian, Arabic, Indian and Greek myths. Rumi considered it the Root of the Roots of Religion. I've always admired the ecumenical flavor within the mystique of Sufi. And the courage of allegories, their daring ambiguity.

closer

Y.Z. Kami took the introductory verses, the The Song of the Reed: the reed is lamenting its separation from the bed of reeds along the river's edge.

Here are the first four verses, as they were translated in English during the time:

Hear, how yon reed in sadly pleasing tales
Departed bliss and present woe bewails!
With me, from native banks untimely torn,
Love-warbling youths and soft-ey'd virgins mourn. (Jones, 1772)

From reed-flute hear what tale it tells;
What plaint it makes of absence' ills.
From jungle-bed since me they tore,
Men's, women's, eyes have wept right sore. (Redhouse, 1881)

Hearken to the reed-flute, how it complains,
Lamenting its banishment from its home:--
Ever since they tore me from my osier bed,
My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears. (Whinfield, 1887)

Listen to this reed how it complains:
it is telling a tale of separations.
Saying, Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed,
man and woman have moaned in my lament (Nicholson, 1926)

more closer

Listen to the story told by the reed,
of being separated.
Since I was cut from the reedbed,
I have made this crying sound.
Anyone apart from someone he loves
understands what I say. (Barks, 1994)

Listen to this Ney, while it's complaining,
The story of separation from God it's explaining.
Ever since they plucked me from my original ground,
Men and women cry upon my painful sound. (Türkman, 1992)

Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:
Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep. (Jonathan Star, 1997)

the closest

And here is the whole song, as translated by Shahriar Shahriari in 1998:

1. Pay heed to the grievances of the reed
Of what divisive separations breed

2. From the reedbed cut away just like a weed
My music people curse, warn and heed

3. Sliced to pieces my bosom and heart bleed
While I tell this tale of desire and need.

4. Whoever who fell away from the source
Will seek and toil until returned to course

5. Of grievances I sang to every crowd
Befriended both the humble and the proud

6. Each formed conjecture in their own mind
As though to my secrets they were blind

7. My secrets are buried within my grief
Yet to the eye and ear, that's no relief

8. Body and soul both unveiled in trust
Yet sight of soul for body is not a must.

9. The flowing air in this reed is fire
Extinct, if with passion won't inspire

10. Fire of love is set upon the reed
Passion of love this wine will gladly feed

11. Reed is match for he who love denied
Our secrets unveiled, betrayed, defied.

12. Who has borne deadly opium like the reed?
Or lovingly to betterment guide and lead?

13. Of the bloody path, will tell many a tale
Of Lover's love, even beyond the veil.

14. None but the fool can hold wisdom dear
Who will care for the tongue if not ear?

15 In this pain, of passing days we lost track
Each day carried the pain upon its back

16. If days pass, let them go without fear
You remain, near, clear, and so dear.

17. Only the fish will unquenchingly thirst,
Surely passing of time, the hungry curst.

18. State of the cooked is beyond the raw
The wise in silence gladly withdraw.

19. Cut the chain my son, and release the pain
Silver rope and golden thread, must refrain

20. If you try to fit the ocean in a jug
How small will be your drinking mug?

21. Never filled, ambitious boy, greedy girl,
Only if satisfied, oyster makes pearl.

22. Whoever lovingly lost shirt on his back
Was cleansed from greed and wanton attack

23. Rejoice in our love, which would trade
Ailments, of every shade and every grade

24. With the elixir of self-knowing, chaste
With Hippocratic and Galenic taste.

25. Body of dust from love ascends to the skies
The dancing mountain thus begins to rise

26. It was the love of the Soul of Mount Sinai
Drunken mountain, thundering at Moses, nigh.

27. If coupled with those lips that blow my reed
Like the reed in making music I succeed;

28. Whoever away from those lips himself found
Lost his music though made many a sound.

29. When the flower has withered, faded away
The canary in praise has nothing to say.

30. All is the beloved, the lover is the veil
Alive is the beloved, the lover in death wail

31. Fearless love will courageously dare
Like a bird that's in flight without a care

32. How can I be aware, see what's around,
If there is no showing light or telling sound?

33. Seek the love that cannot be confined
Reflection in the mirror is object defined.

34. Do you know why the mirror never lies?
Because keeping a clean face is its prize.

35. Friends, listen to the tale of this reed
For it is the story of our life, indeed!

(Contemporary Art)

(Iranian Film and Poetry)

(Sufi)