What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a poem of Bahá’u’lláh, the original text of which has been published digitally on the Bahá’í Reference Library here.
I am not aware of the historical context of this poem—for example, the date, location, and other circumstances of its composition; the person (or people) for whom it was revealed, if anyone in particular; and so on. In fact, except for a probable allusion to it by Adib Taherzadeh (The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 4, p. 244), the only explicit reference to the poem I have found is in a memorandum written by the Research Department to the Universal House of Justice on 17 January 1997:
Though it [this Tablet] begins with the words, “In My Name, the Humourist”…the Tablet does not contain a humorous anecdote. Rather, it is a serious mystical poem, revealed in the form of a prayer. The text does not illuminate the reference to the “Humourist”. It is, however, interesting to note that, while dealing with an exalted theme, the language of expression is, unexpectedly, that of the common people—light, simple, and even colloquial. (source)
Colloquial indeed; Bahá’u’lláh repeatedly uses the word míkhám (میخام), the informal spoken contraction of míkháham (میخواهم), meaning “I want” in the formal written register of Persian. Hence, it can be argued that one would be justified in translating this word as “wanna,” but I have elected not to do this out of a concern that the reader might find it jarring and inappropriate. However, in keeping with the poem’s accessible diction, I chose not to use any overly literary terms or give the translation an archaic flavor. After all, this poem is quite different from all of Bahá’u’lláh’s other known Writings in Persian or Arabic, and I think it makes sense for a translation of it to retain that contrast. Perhaps this is what Bahá’u’lláh meant when He states, at the poem’s beginning, “Verily, God hath spoken in the tongue of His creatures.” As He Himself so often declared, “He doeth what He willeth.”
Apart from the opening invocation and the line that immediately follows, both of which were revealed in Arabic, the rest of the poem is in Persian. The poem abounds with internal rhyme but, interestingly, contains no end rhymes. To approximate the poetic qualities of this Writing, I have set my translation to blank verse, specifically iambic tetrameter. As a happy accident, the translation has some internal and slant rhymes, but very few perfect end rhymes—and this is intentional, not only because the original itself features no such rhymes, but also because I felt it would have been excessively constraining to impose them on this translation. I have also numbered the stanzas for ease of reference.
—Adib Masumian
9 October 2023
* * *
In My Name, the Humorist
Verily, God hath spoken in the tongue of His creatures.
[1]
We are the lovers of Your face
We live outside Your dwelling place
We are the captives of Your hair
I want You to be pleased with me
I want to stand in Your presence
Oh may I perish for Your sake!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[2]
We are the deer that roam Your field
We are the fish caught on Your hook
We are the seekers of Your way
I want that fair beauty of Yours
I want Your peerless majesty
May souls be offered up for You!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[3]
We’re searching for Your grand palace
We circle round Your sacred city
We are the servants of Your Cause
I want to be with You again
I want to bask in Your glory
Oh may I perish for Your sake!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[4]
We are the ones slain in Your love
We’ve died in our distance from You
We gave up self to take Your name
I want Your dire calamity
I want to meet with Your decree
May souls be offered up for You!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[5]
We are Your tame and docile birds
We are the fish caught in Your net
We are the bearers of Your cup
I want that faithfulness of Yours
I want Your cruel oppressiveness
Oh may I perish for Your sake!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[6]
We’re circling Your prison walls
We are protectors of Your realm
We closely guard Your mystery
I want to hear Your holy voice
I want to soar up to Your sky
May souls be offered up for You!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[7]
We are the drinkers of Your chalice
We are the carriers of Your throne[1]
We gaze intently on Your face
I want to celebrate Your praise
I want to sing Your melody
Oh may I perish for Your sake!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
[8]
We are enraptured by Your charm
We are the keepers of Your treasure
We are the knowers of Your secret
I want Your shirt worn underneath[2]
I want Your overgarment[3] too
May souls be sacrificed for You!
Ah, ah! Seek it from God
Ah, ah! Implore Bahá
============
[1] cf. Qur’án 40:7 and 69:17.
[2] Such as a tunic; in the original Persian, shi‘ár (شِعار).
[3] Such as a cloak; in the original Persian, dithár (دِثار).
A typescript of the original Persian and Arabic text of this poem appears below.
Adib Masumian 