ইরান ও ইরাক-ভ্রমণকালে
ভাষণ ও প্রতিভাষণ
মূল ইংরেজিতে
১৭ এপ্রিল ১৯৩২। সিরাজের চেম্বার অব কমার্সে
সদস্যবৃন্দের অভ্যর্থনার উত্তর
The springtime is hospitable. Her birds in their music, her flowers in their fragrance speak a language which is universal needing no translation to explain them. They make no discrimination in favour of their own land of origin, and their call of beauty which is God’s own voice of love comes direct to my heart even though I am a traveller from a far away shore.
The poet also represents the eternal springtime of hospitality. His message is in his music which invokes the harmony of perfection for all humanity, his invitation is to the comradeship in a festival of love’s union.
Persia’s introduction came to me when I was a boy. It was that of the ideal Persia, the Persia of the poet, the Persia which sends her welcome in songs to strangers across all barriers of geography.
My father was a great scholar. He was intoxicated with Hafiz’ verses. When I was boy I often used to listen to his recitation of those poems, and he translated them to me with a fervour of enjoyment that touched my heart.
The vision of Persia was invoked in my imagination by the voice of your own poets, who brought to my mind’s sky the breath of your spring breeze with the enchantment of its blossoming roses and nightingales’ songs. My arrival in your land today is therefore a
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