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4
1179-1203

  • And this earth says, “Preserve me, O Thou who hast caused me to ride upon the water.”
  • وین زمین گوید که دارم بر قرار ** ای که بر آبم تو کردستی سوار

  • All have sewn up (filled) their purses from Him and have learned from Him to give (satisfy) the wants (of others). 1180
  • جملگان کیسه ازو بر دوختند ** دادن حاجت ازو آموختند

  • Every prophet has received (on behalf of his people) from Him the guarantee (implied in the words) seek help of Him with patience or prayer.
  • هر نبیی زو برآورده برات ** استعینوا منه صبرا او صلات

  • Come, ask of Him, not of any one except Him: seek water in the sea, do not seek it in the dry river-bed.
  • هین ازو خواهید نه از غیر او ** آب در یم جو مجو در خشک جو

  • And if you ask of another, ’tis He that gives; ’tis He that lays generosity on the open hand of his (that other's) inclination.
  • ور بخواهی از دگر هم او دهد ** بر کف میلش سخا هم او نهد

  • He who with gold makes one that turns away (from Him in disobedience) a Qárún (Korah), how (much more) will He do (if) you turn your face towards Him in obedience!
  • آنک معرض را ز زر قارون کند ** رو بدو آری به طاعت چون کند

  • The poet, from passionate desire for bounty, set his face a second time towards that beneficent king. 1185
  • بار دیگر شاعر از سودای داد ** روی سوی آن شه محسن نهاد

  • What is the poet's offering? A new poem: he brings it to the beneficent (patron) and deposits it as his stake.
  • هدیه‌ی شاعر چه باشد شعر نو ** پیش محسن آرد و بنهد گرو

  • The beneficent (on their part) have deposited gold and are waiting for the poets with a hundred gifts and liberalities and kindnesses.
  • محسنان با صد عطا و جود و بر ** زر نهاده شاعران را منتظر

  • In their eyes a poem (shi‘r) is better than a hundred bales of silk robes (sha‘r), especially (when it is composed by) a poet who fetches pearls from the depths.
  • پیششان شعری به از صدتنگ شعر ** خاصه شاعر کو گهر آرد ز قعر

  • At first a man is greedy for bread, because food and bread are the pillar (support) of life.
  • آدمی اول حریص نان بود ** زانک قوت و نان ستون جان بود

  • On account of greed and expectation he runs every risk in the way of earning his livelihood and seizing property by violence and (employing) a hundred devices. 1190
  • سوی کسب و سوی غصب و صد حیل ** جان نهاده بر کف از حرص و امل

  • When, (as happens) rarely, he becomes independent of (earning his) bread, he is in love with fame and the praise of poets,
  • چون بنادر گشت مستغنی ز نان ** عاشق نامست و مدح شاعران

  • In order that they may give fruit to (may adorn) his root and branch and may set up a pulpit to declare his excellence,
  • تا که اصل و فصل او را بر دهند ** در بیان فضل او منبر نهند

  • So that his pomp and magnificence and lavishing of gold may yield a perfume, like (that of) ambergris, in (their) song.
  • تا که کر و فر و زر بخشی او ** هم‌چو عنبر بو دهد در گفت و گو

  • God created us in His image: our qualities are instructed by (are modeled upon) His qualities.
  • خلق ما بر صورت خود کرد حق ** وصف ما از وصف او گیرد سبق

  • Inasmuch as the Creator desires thanksgiving and glorification, it is also the nature of man to desire praise, 1195
  • چونک آن خلاق شکر و حمدجوست ** آدمی را مدح‌جویی نیز خوست

  • Especially the man of God, who is active in (showing) excellence: he becomes filled with that wind (of praise), like an undamaged leathern bag;
  • خاصه مرد حق که در فضلست چست ** پر شود زان باد چون خیک درست

  • But if he (the recipient of praise) be not worthy, the bag is rent by that wind of falsehood: how should it receive lustre?
  • ور نباشد اهل زان باد دروغ ** خیک بدریدست کی گیرد فروغ

  • I have not invented this parable, O comrade: do not hear it (as though it were) silly, if thou art worthy and restored to thy senses.
  • این مثل از خود نگفتم ای رفیق ** سرسری مشنو چو اهلی و مفیق

  • The Prophet (Mohammed) said (something like) this, when he heard vituperation (from the infidels who asked), “Why is Ahmad (Mohammed) made fat (happy) by praise?”
  • این پیمبر گفت چون بشنید قدح ** که چرا فربه شود احمد به مدح

  • The poet went to the king and brought a poem in thanks (and praise) for (his) beneficence, saying that it (beneficence) never died. 1200
  • رفت شاعر پیش آن شاه و ببرد ** شعر اندر شکر احسان کان نمرد

  • The beneficent died, and (their) acts of beneficence remained: oh, blest is he that rode this steed!
  • محسنان مردند و احسانها بماند ** ای خنک آن را که این مرکب براند

  • The unjust died, and those acts of injustice remained: alas for the soul that practises deceit and fraud!
  • ظالمان مردند و ماند آن ظلمها ** وای جانی کو کند مکر و دها

  • The Prophet said, “Blest is he who departed from this world and left good deeds behind him.”
  • گفت پیغامبر خنک آن را که او ** شد ز دنیا ماند ازو فعل نکو