art ~ spirit ~ transformation
e*lix*ir

e*lix*ir   #11
Twin Birthdays 2020
Translations
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Editorial

Looking with the Eyes of Faith

e*lix*ir Poetry Collective

James Andrews
Harriet Fishman
Sandra Lynn Hutchison
A.E. Lefton
Imelda Maguire
YoungIn Doe

Translations

Remembered Music by Rumi, translated by Shahin Mowzoon

The Writing Life

The e*lix*ir Poetry Collective Writes the Creation by James Andrews

Essays

Love in a Time of Distances by Sandra Lynn Hutchison

Personal Reflections on Bahá’í Texts

A Finely-Tempered Sword by Melika Rezvani
Knowing God through His Creation by Nava Eslami

Art

Fabric Art by Helen Butler

Comic

Ruhi & Riaz by Eira

Voices of Iran

An Army of Two Hundred Men by Ighan Aghdasi Yekta
The Goddess by Saba Sobhanian

Looking Back on Books

Rooms Are Never Finished by Agha Shahid Ali


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Helen Butler

Remembered Music

by Mevlana Rumi

translated by Shahin Mowzoon

The wise have said that these melodies
Were begot from the movement of the spheres,
It’s the call of the heavens that creation sings,
With all its voices and rhythms and hymns
The faithful say it’s a heavenly cause
That turns to harmony our dissonant cries.
We were all part of Adam when first he
In paradise heard that true melody,
Though we were cast in water and clay
We half-remember the echoes of that day.


Source:
Díván-i-Shams-i-Tabrízí, volume 2, #2214



Shahin Mowzoon
Artist Statement:   With respect to translation, Dr. Soheil Bushrui used to say you should study the works of others, draw upon them, but still do your own work. It is my belief that every additional translation, each fresh rendering of a work, only adds another perspective. The work of translation is like painting: different artists can paint the same scene, but render it differently, according to their unique angle or view. And while one person will paint the scene in oils, another will paint in watercolors,and a third will create a sculpture. Translation is like that: each individual renders the original according to his or her own understanding of the words and their meaning.
Bio:   Shahin Mowzoon holds a MA in engineering and works as the chief data scientist in a supply chain company. He completed Stanford University’s fiction writers’ program, and is currently working on a Master’s in creative writing and English literature at Harvard University. Shahin serves as the staff translator for elixir-journal.org, in whose pages his translation of Tahirih’s well-known poem, “If I Were to Gaze Upon Your Face,” appears. He was recognized as a finalist in the prestigious Barnstone Translation Contest for his translation of one of Rumi’s poems. He has translated poems by W. B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot into Persian as well as various classical and contemporary Persian poets into English. Shahin’s travels have taken him to over 30 countries. In his spare time, he paints in the impressionist style, draws portraits in charcoal, and plays the Spanish guitar.