My Escape Lately: Nezami Ganjavi

I have found a nightly escape routine lately. I started browsing poems of Nezami; one of my favorite Persian poets whose master piece, Layla and Majnun, granted me my name; An Arabic love story between two young schoolmates in olden day tribes of that land.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun

I started with Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian love story and a tragic one with Farhad's suicide in his love for Shirin.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khosrow_and_Shirin

One thing that peaqued my attention was the nuances in relationships and dialogues between the lovers. The similarities and the differences between the Persian correspondences and costumes versus Arabic ones. How modesty and pudency were present in both while in the Persian version the ladies were more forthright with their words and even their bodily presence while in the Arabic version we hardly "hear" Leyli's words.

Leyli, by the way, was the original Arabic name than evolved to Layla and is also spelled as Leyla and Leila.

The beautiful words and meaning, the poetic expression, the softness of the dialogue, these all have me recharged every night; somewhat the starch contrast to my daily life as a business woman, tough and strategic and analytical and matter of the fact; this nightly reading is my haven. I think if I live to old ages this will how I will spend my days too, reading Persian poems, marveling in their beauty and meaning.

PS: the land of Persia has shrunk but the poems of Persian language will always be Persian. Even if their birthplace or tomb is not within the current borders of the modern map of Iran. This is how I see this. 

Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun#/media/File:Story_of_Mejnun_-_in_wilderness.jpg