First in the Annals of Unwritten Poetry by Women
By Pirayeh Yaghmai
(Translated into English by Ghafour Memarzadeh)
The lullaby is the first harmonic pact ever entered into by the mother and the infant. It is an invisible current flowing from the mother’s mouth onto the baby’s ears. The magic effect of the phenomenon is the deep peaceful sleep that pervades the infant’s whole being. The current carries those sublime uninhibited wishes and dreams that the mother cherishes while, concomitantly, the constant swing of the cradle provides a shade of balance and rhythm. These dreams are expressed in such a serene and regal manner that the mind of the recipient tends to wander around, undecided on whether these sound waves are simply dream images or the reality. It appears that the mother wishes, from the bottom of her heart, that they become reality and such an outcome does, in fact, emerge; because even God, at times, cannot help but yield to the yearnings.
The lullaby, in reality, constitutes the oral literature of every land evidently because no mother ever sings the lines out of written notes and all mothers know these lines by heart without any notion as to where they originated or how. It seems as though cognizance of the lullaby and the particular tone of voice in which it is delivered, had been, from time immemorial, inherent to the soul of woman.
The woman, whether she is a mother or not, happens to be familiar with the lullaby and with the manner of delivering it. If a woman who is not also a mother is hesitant to sing the song on her own, it is because, from her perspective, the incentive to do so has not been provided. However, if that same woman sits at the cradle of a child, she will undoubtedly chant the lines in perfect manner, not deviating from the tune or the words, although she may have had no previous experience of the kind.
It seems as though the inborn drive to be a mother compels the woman, from the time of birth, to reserve part of her memory as storage just for the accumulation of these simple lyrics. It could be claimed that the lullaby is the embodiment of a colorful gamut of dreams, grievances and innocent prayers of the motherly soul that has been carried across generations from the ancient times till today and has preserved its zest and freshness all along, so much so that no other song has been exalted to a position to displace it.
Indeed, the lullaby, this most enduring folklore of all, constitutes the main point of departure in cradle-side feminine literature whose age is not merely a matter of history but of antiquity as well.
Of the two component parts of the lullaby, namely the tune and the lyrics, the music pertains to the infant while the poetry belongs to the mother, because, as far as the auditory sense is concerned, the part most appreciable to the child is the musical tempo of the lullaby whereas, as we all know, the poetry does not claim a high level of literary style in its language. Even if the language did enjoy such a quality, it could not possibly register with the infant at the cradle age. It is chiefly the chanting of the mother and the enchanting cadence in delivery that fascinates the child and induces sleep. The child establishes a bond with the rhythmic pattern of the mother’s tone regardless of whether or not she is endowed with the gift of a good voice. The mother’s modulations, just like the flow of a stream, ripples bliss and vibrancy into the little ears.
On the other hand, experience shows that children, even though they keep growing up to the tune of the lullaby, never learn the lyrics in the process and do not, in general, feel duty-bound to commit the words to memory. After they have developed the gift of speech, children do not ever use the lullaby as a means of expressing their fancies. Even girls do not sing the lullaby into the ears of their dolls in anticipation of sleep for them. They tend, instead, to cover the dolls’ faces just to provide security, because the girls prefer to appreciate the dolls while playing with them, not to make them go to sleep. However, these same girls, driven by the sublime motherly spirit, certainly sing the lullaby in order to induce sleep in their younger brothers or sisters.
The melody of the lullaby, in turn, varies in direct relationship with the type of the cradle and its swing-span. Since these types happen to be different in every region throughout Iran, the tone of the mothers’ chants also differs, one from the other, depending on such variances. Those cradles in use in the southern and the central parts of the country, for instance, are called “nanno” undoubtedly derived from the word “nanny” or “mother” in the local tongue.[i] (The crib is also called the second mother.) The nanno (cot) is swung from a tree branch, as is said in a lullaby from Malayer reading in the local dialect:
“At dusk do I sing a lullaby for you and hang your “nanno” from a tree branch.”
(“Song and Song Writing, page 186).
To hang the cot inside a room, they generally drive two pegs into the wall in two laterally opposite corners. They then fasten the cot, usually made of leather or robust cloth, to these pegs with strong cords. The swing-span of this type of crib is remarkably wide. With one sweep of the hand, the crib swirls from one end of the room to the other and sometimes the swoosh of the crib and even the clatter of the pegs mingle with the chatter of the song, a combination that creates a euphoric atmosphere.
However, the cribs in the northern regions of the country, called Ghareh, meaning cradle, are made of wood. The bottom surface is crescent-shaped where the two ends tend to elevate slightly from ground level. The swings of such cribs are short, staccato and in quick succession.
The second component part of the lullaby, namely the poetry, belongs to the mother. With these words, the mother is actually talking to the child and, although she is aware that the baby does not understand her, the mother derives pleasure from sensing that the child is listening to her. The poetry is quite simple in form and style and the words may not even rhyme at times. However, the contents, not devoid of a certain connotation, are very rich in their emotional charge and always express imminent or distant aspirations of the mother.
Depending on the message conveyed, lullabies may be categorized in the following manner:
1) Those where the mother wishes that the child remain in good health. She, therefore, invokes those beings that are held sacred:
La la la la, fall asleep, because I want you to,
Here do I watch your posture and carriage,
La la la la, do I wish you a sleep of peace and security
May God be your protector day and night.
(Folklore of the Iranian People, Page 217)
Lullaby do I sing for you, but you do not seem to get drowsy.
Into older age have I raised you, but you do not remember.
I have raised you so you may live
And serve Hazrat Massoumeh.
(Song and Songwriting, page 191)[The name refers to a distant descendent of the Shiite Imams with her shrine to south of Tehran]
2) The lullabies where the mother wishes her child to grow up, to go to school and become educated:
La la la la, my dear one, clothed in splendor,
Where did you hide the key to my soul and intellect?
La la la la, do I wish you a sleep of peace and security.
May you grow to be a master with your quill and ink-pot of gold.
(Iranian Folk Songs, Page 147)
La la la la, dear to God, pen in hand
Go to school to read the holy book of God.
(Song and Song Writing, Page 182)
La la la la, my dear one, clothed in splendor,
Where did you hide the key to my soul and intellect?
La la la la, do I wish you a sleep of peace and security.
May you grow to be a master with your quill and ink-pot of gold.
(Iranian Folk Songs, Page 147)
3) The lullabies where the mother wishes her infant to bloom and develop:
I sing the lullaby so you may fall sleep;
I shall go on until the moon sinks down.
I shall count the stars till the day you grow up
And till you come into full blossom.
(Ibid, Page 187)
4) The lullabies in which the mother attests to the baby that she is no longer alone
since the baby is there:
La la la la, now that I have you,
Why should I ever complain of loneliness?
La la la la, golden ear.
Take me to the marketplace
And sell me for a bushel of flour and some meat.
(History of Children’s Literature in Iran, page ۲۹)
La la la la, rosy kid,
The comrade of my hard times, indeed.
La la la la do I sing
To get you to the torpor of the sleep.
(Song and Songwriting, page 186)
5) The lullabies where the mother wishes her child, boy or girl, to achieve adulthood and take a spouse while the mother can also partake in the wedding ceremony:
Sweet child whose sleep
Is deep and whose dream is golden,
I have made a pact with God
To witness your wedding night.
(Ibid, page 186)
Another sample:
La la la la, dear girl,
You will become a lady soon.
You will dwell the house of matrimony.
Great God help you be happy so
You will also become a mother in time.
(Ibid, page 188)
In this category of lullabies, there appears a tinge of wistfulness and jealousy at times:
You are my rose, little child.
May you live to grow old.
I have cherished my plant of love in this garden
Where you are only a bloom with no scent.
Alas, when you grow into the full blown flower,
You will then belong to another.
(The Book of Byways, Part I, Letter B, page 773)
6) The Lullabies where the mother wishes that her child, once grown up, could appreciate her toils and sufferings in the struggle to raise it to adulthood:
The lullaby do I chant in your name.
May god protect you, little gem.
When, God willing, you grow up,
May you remember my toiling time.
(Song and Song Writing, page 187)
Notwithstanding the wishful dream, the mother does know that the child shall forget:
I sing the lullaby with my tired voice,
So you may grow to support your aged mother.
Lullaby do I sing for you, but you have no care.
Into older age have I raised you, but you do not remember.
(Folklore of the Iranian People, Page 217)
7) The lullabies in which the mother voices frustration at the child’s defiant mood and why it resists the impulse to go to sleep. In this type, there is sometimes a hint of scorn or the strain of rancor or sarcasm:
La la la la, may you be my flower,
May you be the remedy to my pains,
May you be the companion to my soul,
May sleep rid me of you.
(The Book of Byways, Part I, Letter B, page 775)
Another sample:
La la la la, pistachio blossom,
Your cries have become tiresome.
(Ibid., Page 776)
Another sample:
La la la la, flower of caraway,
Why do you not go to sleep?
The Yassin Surah do I invoke,
So into sleep may you creep.
(History of Children’s Literature in Iran, page ۲۹)
Sometimes, in this type of the lullaby, the mother even resorts to the bogeyman for succor. The psychology of such lullabies is quite amusing, because the mother uses a trick to intimidate the bogeyman by the child and not the other way around. In the process, the mother imbibes the child with some measure of spoken self-confidence. She may say, for instance, “Go away, bogeyman. This is a nice baby here and he will sleep. Or, “What do you want of this baby? He has a father and carries two sabers on his belt.” And so on and so forth:
La la la la, go away you bogeyman of desert land.
Go away, black bogeyman.
Go away, you unashamed dog.
This baby has a father,
Has two daggers on his belt
And two Korans under his arms, besides.
(Song and Song Writing, pages 190-91)
La la la la, blossom of tea,
Bogeyman, what do you want of me?
This baby has a father,
And a dagger under his garter.
Go away, bogeyman of desert land.
What do you want of my child
Who has a father in the house
And who carries in the bosom
The words of God.
۸) In still another group of lullabies, the mother seals the song in the name of the child while, at the same time she is flooding it with an outpour of caressing words:
La la la la, may you be my flower,
May you be my companion and partner.
Get water and basin, folks.
To wash the face of the prince,
That prince that is a gift from God,
The prince whose name is inspired by God.
(The Book of Byways, Part I, Letter B, page 773)
Another specimen is the translation of a Turkmen lullaby:
Amman is the name of my son.
Round whose fingers,
All the time lingers
The ring of his soul mate,
While fog does
Over the lofty mounts spread.
My son will be a bridegroom,
While holding in his right hand and left
Pomegranates in bloom.
When my son dallies around,
In parties and feasts,
Focus of attention will he be
Of nubile girls.
(History of Children’s Literature in Iran, page ۳۲)
۹) One group of lullabies include recounts of a short tale and, therefore, exceeds the limited length of the typical four-line lullaby:
La la la la, little jonquil,
You drove me out into the alley
And the door in my face did you close.
I, thence, went to play on the sand
Where two Indians came
To carry me off to their land.
They raised me with great relish.
They made a bride of me
In absolute zest.
I have a boy I call King Jamshid
And a girl I call Queen Khorshid.
King Jamshid is out hunting.
Queen Khorshid is in the cradle;
Into sleep she is falling.
On her cradle hang
Three pearls.
Round her waist coils
A golden band.
Come, nanny.
Go, nanny.
Bring water and basin
To wash this pretty face,
The face of the beauty
That God has bestowed
As his bounty.
(Folklore of the Iranian People, Page 218)
This lullaby has also been recorded by Mansour Owji, contemporary Iranian poet in the following context:
To the spring of water did I walk
Where the pot did I uncoil into the well.
Then appeared two Turks from Turkistan
Who carried me off to Hindustan.
They raised me with great relish.
They made a bride of me,
With a large dowry.
La la la la, Father Mansour,
Get my mother’s prayers across to me.
God has bestowed me two Georgians.
Malek Mansour has gone asleep,
And Malek Mahmoud to school.
Bring water and basin
To wash this pretty face.
(Book of the Week, Issue 13)
Sometimes these narrative-type lullabies have their roots in religious beliefs:
La la la la, la la la la,
In the sea did I sail one night
Where three fish I caught.
One of them was Asghar
And other Akbar.
The third was
Son-in-law to the Prophet.
The Prophet kept praying.
The son-in-law, Ali
Kept asking for God’s blessing.
Ali conquered the Kheibar Pass,
In obeisance to great God’s command.
(Song and Song Writing, page 192)[The names Asghar and Akbar relate to the two youngest and oldest sons of the third Imam in the Shiite faith]
10) Most of these lullabies have particular sociological significance. In many of the lullabies, for instance, it is emphasized that the father happens to be away from home, while the baby is being caressed all the time and likened to flowers, even to those depicted on the tapestries.
La la la la, flower on the rug,
Your daddy is out and
He is missed by all of us.
La la la la, blossom of rose,
Daddy is out a’ hunting
For another wife.
(Ibid, Page 183)
La la la la, little lilac,
Daddy has gone on the draft.
La la la la, little mint,
Daddy is gone and has
Left me alone.
La la la la, blossom of pistachio,
Daddy is gone to fight on.
La la la la, flower of puppy,
Daddy is gone;
May God keep him company.
La la la la, blossom of pistachio,
Daddy is gone
On a journey.
La la la la, vine flower
Daddy is gone,
Nevertheless, do not bother.
(The Book of Byways, Part I, Letter B, page 773)
Alternatively, the mother voices her joy, in many such lullabies, at the father’s homecoming:
La la la la, little lily,
Daddy has come,
Have glory.
(Ibid, same page)
In addition to extolling the emotional bond between man and wife, such lullabies demonstrate the household make-up at the time and division of labor between parents. They signify that the man, in quest of income to run the family, should be out most of the time, while the woman, responsible for homemaking and raising and developing the children, stays at home.
11) Some lullabies hint, not deliberately, at the trend of trade relationships prevalent at the time:
La la la la, kitten in velvet,
Whose cradle is of sandalwood
And whose quilt of material from Hindustan,
And whose pillow of feather from Sistan.
Oh, breeze of the summer,
Point towards Hindustan.
Tell daddy, dear child,
To get you cotton from Hindustan.
Thus comments Dr. Bastani Parizi on this lullaby from the province of Kerman. “In this song, there is an interesting reference to merchandise brought from Sistan to Kerman, namely, swan’s feather. Because of the Hirmand River and Lake Hamoun, Sistan was habitat to large colonies of the swan, the duck and other sea birds. For years, the people of Sistan, in addition to their own product, wicker woven from jute, used to export another important commodity, feather of sea birds. This was transported through a shortcut route from Khabis (now called Shahdad.)
(Song and Song Writing, footnote to page 191)
۱۲) Some lullabies dote on the geographic situation of the child’s native city and home. A case in point could be the following lullaby from Orazan that construes a philosophical viewpoint: the mother, while singing, warns the child that time flies by, relentlessly, like a running stream.
La la la la, sleep on, dear life.
To the north of the Master’s garden
Stands our home.
To the north of the Master’s garden
Is the orchard of the date palm.
La la la la, sleep on, dear life,
As the lifetime of man
Does like a running stream pass.
13) In some lullabies, which embody profound beautiful percepts, the mother commiserates with the child and tells it of her sorrows and anxieties in such a manner as if she were talking to an adult person. An example is the following lullaby which demonstrates that the father has died on them and left the child to the mother’s sole care. Here, the mother grieves this lost love and complains to the child of her inescapable loneliness. This lullaby, despite all its tenderness, suggests a life that has reached a deadlock:
The flower has slipped
Through my fingers,
Leaving only the thorn.
Great hardship and cruelty
Has been left
Behind for me.
A suckling do I have
On my hands,
As a memento of
My lost partner in life.
(The Book of Byways, Part I, Letter B, page 774)
And yet another lullaby that expresses distress at the transient nature of life and the hardships it poses:
La la la la, dear love,
My drunken fowl,
Among all things,
To you I lost my heart.
La la la la, alas, is gone
Daddy, although here I am
Attached to you.
In all despair.
(Ibid, same page)
14) Most Kurdish, Balouchi and Azeri lullabies and those from other regions of Iran are delivered in the local dialect and constitute, therefore, the sustaining agent for each native tongue. The vocabulary and idiomatic expressions contained in these lyrics indeed deserve some deliberation. When delivered in the singer’s own dialect, they provide a mood and feeling of real rapture. When translated, they are also stunningly beautiful. As we see in the following Balouchi lullaby where the motif ” … sink into sweet dreams…” is repeated over and over and renders it more pleasant to the ears:
I sing into sleep
My child who shines like diamond.
Since I cherish for him
A thousand dreams and
He is still a child.
I sing you into sleep,
So you can
Sink into sweet dreams.
Have nice dreams, baby
And may my whole being
Be a sacrifice to you,
My whole life.
I sing you into sleep,
So you can
Sink into sweet dreams.
Since I cherish for him
A thousand dreams and
He is still a child.
My diamond has,
Between his two cheeks,
A mouth where dwells
Honey-like speech.
Of sweet musk does
My diamond smell.
A gift from God
Is my child.
And my child is all
I desire of God…
And also the following Azeri Lullaby equally deserving of some deliberation:
From their houses do
All neighbors run away,
Because of the din
Of my lullabies.
A brick each day falls
Down from the monument
That constitutes
My entire lifetime.
(History of Children’s Literature in Iran, page ۳۵)
The lullaby possesses a certain property that is appreciated solely by the motherly psyche. The mother embarks on the lullaby out of her own soul. At that juncture, the mother is oblivious of all things other than the baby and the cradle. She sings the tale of her own heart, which could or could not also be that of the society. In the event it were the tale of the society, it is not the mother who instilled it across communities. It was the lullaby itself that turned into the tale of others as well. It is for this reason that many male poets have attempted and failed at the endeavor to compose lullabies. They have assumed the society as their point of departure in the effort or, to put it in a more simple language, they have attempted to exploit the lullaby for their own preaching to the society. This kind of interpretation is at odds with the simple nature of the lullaby.
Among the male poets who have grasped this unique property of the lullaby, Dr. Ghadamali Sarami is the one most notable. He has a wonderful understanding of the phenomenon. It would be remiss if we passed by, without due notice, this written versus the oral versions of the lullaby. I will, therefore, finish these lines with a sample of the work:
With the ray of sunshine
As my needle,
And with the beads of rain
As my thread,
With the silk streaming
From the dawn of the morn,
Do I make
For you, little brat,
A colorful dress.
La la la la
La la la la
A bright mirror
Is your brow.
And two candelabra
Are your two eyes.
Enough of moonlight
On the porch,
Close your eyes now
To go to sleep.
La la la la
La la la la.
[۱] “How to establish a relationship with the infant” by Dr..Ghadamali Sarami, Hamshahri Newspaper issue No. 3130, August 11, 2004.
In affirmation of this viewpoint, there is a poem by Mr. Nickkhah published on the Website Kouhbanan (named after Mount Banan located to the northwest in the province of Kerman.) Titled “Old Poem, the piece has been composed in the local dialect of which a few lines are quoted below:
Old Poem:
I feel like writing
An old poem
Of shepherds and
Of the job of leading the herd.
Of the youth of the old days
Who stood tall and proud
And did not feel any inferior
Because of their old rags
And moccasins
That they could not
Afford to renew.
…..
References:
History of Children’s Literature in Iran (of Oral Literature and of the Ancient Times), Volume one, by Mohammed Hadi Mohammedi and Zohreh Ghaini, Published by Chista, Tehran, 2001.
Song and Song Writing in Iran by Mohammad Ahmad Panahi, Soroush Publications, First Edition, 1997.
Folkloric Songs of the Iranian People, by Mohammad Ahmad Panahi, Published by Author, Second Edition, winter 1989
Folklore of the Iranian People, by Sadegh Hedayat Published by Cheshmeh Publications through the efforts of Jahangheer Hedayat, Third Edition, fall 1999
The Book of Byways (Collection of Persian Words, Idioms, Interpretations and Proverbs), Letter B, Book One by Ahmad Shamlou, Maziar Publications, Tehran, 1999
A Look at and a Review of the Folklore of the Iranian People by Abolghassem Nahvi Shirazi, Assirak Publications, First Edition, Tehran, fall 1992
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