On the Frailty of Creatures and the Grandeur of God.
(MAY HIS NAME BE GLORIFIED !)
The pathway to wisdom is twist upon twist;
For the holy, the Maker alone can exist.
You can tell this to people who truths recognize;
But people of theory will criticize;
Saying, "What is the sky and the earth, do you say?
Who are men? what are game and the wild beasts of
Oh intelligent man! Your inquiry is well;
If the answer is pleasing to you, I will tell.
The desert and ocean, the hills and the sky;
The fairies, mankind, fiends, and angels on high;
All things that exist, for this reason are less,
That only through Him they existence possess.
The sea in a storm is sublime in your eye;
And lofty's the vault of the rotating sky.
But when will mere surface observers obtain
A glimpse of where spiritual persons remain ?
For if it's the sun, not a speck they descry;
If the whole seven seas, not a drop can they spy.
When the Sultan of Glory His flag has unfurl'd,
Into Nullity's collar collapses the world!
(OF THE VILLAGER AND THE ARMY OF THE Sultan).
An old village chief with his son, on their way,
Passed a king's mighty army, in battle array.
The son looked on heralds and weapons untold;
On mantles of satin and girdles of gold;
On bow-bearing heroes, the slayers of game;
On slaves, quiver-bearing, and archers of fame.
Parnian silken mantles the breasts of some graced;
On the temples of others are coronets placed.
When the son all this splendour and grandeur had seen, He saw that his father was humble and mean;
That his manner had changed and his colour had fled;
That he hurried away to a corner, from dread.
"You are chief of a village, at least ?" the son said;
"In chiefship you're over the great people's head!
What occurred, that the hope of your life you forsook ?
That at sight of a king, like a willow you shook ?"
He said, "I'm a ruler and chief, as you state;
But my dignity stops at my own village gate!"
Overwhelmed with amazement the holy are seen,
Because in the court of the king they have been.
In the village, oh careless one! such is your case,
That you on yourself a high estimate place!
Men of eloquence have not delivered a speech,
That Sadi some proverb, thereon, does not teach.
Perhaps you have seen that in garden and swamp,
The glow-worm shines brightly at night, like a lamp.
One inquired, thus, "Oh moth, lighting night with your
ray!
Why is it you do not appear in the day ?"
Observe what the earth-nurtured, fire-giving fly,
From its head of enlightenment, said, in reply:
"In the plains day and night I am present, always;
But never apparent before the sun's rays!"
Story of the Wise Man and Atábak-Sád-BinZangi.
(MAY THE FAVOUR OF GOD BE ON HIM.)
A person gave Sád, son of Zangi, great praise.
(On his tomb be abundance of mercy always.)
He gave direms, a robe, and respect to him showed,
And becoming his merit position bestowed.
When "God is enough," in gold lines, met his view,
He raved, and the robe from his bosom he threw.
From the heat, such a flame in his conscience began,
Up he jumped and away to the wilderness ran.
A desert companion said, "Kindly relate
What sight you have seen that has altered your state!
The ground, to begin with, three times you did kiss ;
It did not become you to change after this!"
He smiled, saying, "Firstly, from hope and from dread,
Through my body a willow-like shivering spread;
Thereafter, 'the Glory of God will suffice,'
Removed ev'ry person and thing from my eyes.
In a city of Syria a tumult began;
They had put into bonds a good-natured, old man.
That saying of his—in my ears still remains—
When they fastened his hands and his ankles in chains : "If the Sultan," he said, "does not furnish the sign, What person can me to destruction consign?
It is proper to treat as a friend such a foe,
For the Friend has despatched him to hurt me, I know.
Be it honour and rank or if bonds and disgrace,
From God I'll acknowledge it, not Adam's race!
About your disease, oh wise man! do not quake!
When the Doctor sends drugs that are bitter, to take.
All that comes from the hand of the Friend,' then,
endure !
A patient's not skilled, like a doctor, to cure."
(OF AN ABSTINENT, PIOUS MAN).
One like me, with his heart in another one's hand,
Was a captive and had much abasement to stand.
He had, previously, wisdom and knowledge displayed;
Yet, because of his madness, a butt he was made.
From his intimate friends many thumpings he bore,
Like a peg, with his forehead projecting before.
On the head of misfortune, by fancy so put,
That the roof of his brain was well kicked under foot.
From the foe, for the friend, he submitted to wrong;
For poison from friends is an antidote strong.
No knowledge had he of his friend's chiding strains;
For the man who is drowned does not know when it
rains.
The person whose heart has grown callous to blame,
Does not care for the mirror of honour and shame.
The devil appeared as a beauty, one night,
In that holy man's bosom, and worried him, quite.
In the morning he had not the pow'r to say pray'r;
Of his secret not one of his friends was aware.
He plunged into water as far as the chin,
And like marble, was soon by the cold frozen in.
A reprover began to upbraid him and scold:
"You are killing yourself in this water, so cold."
The judicious young man raised a clamour and said :
"Beware! and be dumb on this infamous head!
For a little, this youth so enraptured my heart,
That my love for him made all my patience depart.
In my good disposition no int'rest he showed;
See how far with my life I am bearing his load!
Hence, He who created my body from dust,
By His pow'r has consigned a pure soul to its trust.
You're amazed that His load of commands I sustain !
In His kindness and favour I always remain !"
On the Ecstasy of Pious People, and its Truth and Folly.
If a lover you are, keep yourself less in view;
If you're not; then, Futurity's pathway pursue!
Lest love should reduce you to dust, do not fear!
For should it destroy, you'll immortal appear.
Green plants do not grow from the grains that are sound,
Unless they are first covered up in the ground.
With God such abundance of friendship you gain,
That release from the hands of yourself you obtain.
You've no road in yourself, while to self you are wed;
The enraptured alone are informed on this head.
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