Mir Afshar, Huma

Mir Afshar, Huma (b. 1946), well-known as Humayun, a lyricist born in Tehran. She composed poetry in her high school years. Later, he married ‘Ali Mir Afshar and changed her surname to Mir Afshar. She contributed poetry, photos and short stories to a newspaper and a weekly. Under the supervision of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, she studied music with Asad Allah Malik and graduated with honors from the university in 1962. She worked from the outset of her musical career with the greatest of Iranian composers and vocalists and won the Persian Golden Lioness Awards from the Music Academy in 2005. Her lyrics follow a specific and quite elegant style. Two collections of her lyrics, Gulpunaha and Alalaha, have recently appeared. Her collection of poetry, Gulchin-i Azari, appeared in 1983. The following lines are by her:

You went away and broke my heart,

When the ties of love are weak, they had better be broken.

I never take the vengeance of my heart on you,

Having trodden the path of injustice, it better be dripping with blood.

O the one who are unaware of my heart! In the gathering of wine drinkers,

You closed your eyes and I said they had better be closed.

My tears are flowing tonight like bloody tulips,

On the ancient grave of love, bouquets of flowers better be laid.

My sorrowful countenance is like a clear mirror,

Unless you know the secret of the heart, it had better be shattered.

When the bond of love is tattered,

It would be better not to make a weak and inappropriate covenant.

If the memory of love is supposed to be home burning,

Huma’s heart is burned, an offended heart would be better.

Karnama-yi Zanan-i Kara-yi Iran az Diruz ta Imruz (817).