Listen to this reed, how it complains; it tells a tale of separations.
بشنو این نی چون شکایت میکند
از جداییها حکایت میکندBişnev în ney çün şikâyet mî-koned
Ez cüdâyîhâ hikâyet mî-koned
Rumi, Masnavi, I, 1 (Nicholson).
The first word of the Masnavi: listen.
The ear, before the reading.
The reed is a cane cut from the reed bed.
Hollowed out, pierced.
Its sound comes from there.
What it tells of is separation.
It sounds like a complaint,
but in truth it is a story:
the story of one who longs to return home.
In Turkish it is known as "Dinle neyden kim hikâyet etmede."