Your eyes and your ears to the head are consigned;
For speech, there's the mouth, and for reason, the mind.
If you, haply, the downs from the ups recognize,
Do not say this is short, or that long, in your eyes!
On the Comfort of Silence and the Misfortune of Garrulity.
Thus spoke an old man of agreeable mind:
(To the ear the remarks of the agèd come kind)
"To a corner of India I went from the throng;
What saw I? A black like a wintry night, long.
A moon-visaged maiden was in his embrace;
In her lips he had buried his teeth to their base.
He hugged to his bosom the damsel so tight,
You'd have said that the day was concealed by the night. My 'evident duty'1 took hold of my skirt;
His excess became fire and forthwith me begirt.
I searched all around for a stick or a stone,
Saying, 'Godless, base wretch, to whom shame is unknown!'
With shouts and reproaches, with threats and abuse,
The 'light' from the 'dark,' like the dawn, I produce.
From over the garden that demon cloud flew ;
From under the raven the egg came in view.
By my saying 'la-houla' that ogre-shape fled;
The fairy-faced maid clung to me, in his stead.
'Oh canter!' she said, 'in hypocrisy clad!
You world-buying, faith-selling sinner, so bad!
For ages, my heart has escaped from my clutch
To this man, and my soul is in love with him much.
1 "Evident duty," dissuading from evil.
And now that my raw morsel, cooked, by me lay,
Steaming hot, from my palate you drove it away.'
She complained of oppression and harshness and said:
'Compassion has fallen and mercy has fled.
Among the young men no protectors remain,
Who might my revenge from this dotard obtain ;
For in his old age, shame has failed to appear,
Since he pulls off one's veil, whom he should not go near.'
With my skirt in her grasp she her grievance proclaimed ;
My head hanging down on my bosom, ashamed.
From my garment, at once, like a garlic I sprung;
For I dreaded the threats of the old and the young.
Away from the woman, quite naked, I fly—
For better my skirt in her fingers, than I.
When a time had elapsed, to my dwelling she came,
And said, 'Do you know me?' I answered, 'For shame!
On account of your conduct repentant I've grown,
And in future will leave foolish meddling alone.'
To no one will such an adventure appear,
Who sits wisely at work in his own proper sphere.
On account of this baseness the lesson I glean,
That, henceforth, what I see I shall reckon unseen."
Have you wisdom and reason and judgment and sense?
Like Sádi instruct, or maintain silence, hence!
On the Advantage of Screening.
A certain one sat before David of Tai,1
Saying, "So and so Sufi I saw tipsy lie;
His turban and shirt stained with vomited food,
A number of dogs in a ring round him stood."
1 Daud-Tai, a celebrated saint who lived in the ninth century.
When the good-natured man heard this tale to a close,
On his face angry frowns at the speaker arose.
He was wroth for a little and said, "Oh my friend!
To-day a kind comrade will prove a Godsend.
Go! and bring him away from that horrible place!
For by law it's forbid; to our sect, it's disgrace!
On your back, man-like, bring him, for drunkards they say,
Do not hold in their fingers the reins of the way!"
These words made the hearer look wretchedly blank;
Like an ass in the mire, in reflection he sank.
He could not evade the injunction he got ;
And he loathed to convey on his shoulders a sot.
He writhed for a time but no remedy saw,
Nor means from the order his head to withdraw.
He got ready and carried him off, without choice,
On his shoulders; the city roughs making a noise.
One cursing them shouted, "These Dervishes heed!
How good are their piety, chasteness and creed!"
"See the wine-drinking Sufis!" another one cried,
"Who have pawned their patched garments for wine,
fortified!"
People pointed their fingers as onwards they slunk,
Saying, "This one's top-heavy and that one half drunk !"
A sword on the neck, struck by tyrannous foe,
Is more just than town jeers and the rage of the "low."
Misfortune he bore; passed a troublesome day;
Without choice, he conveyed him to where his home lay.
From reflection and shame, he was sleepless that night;
Next morning Tai smiling remarked, at his plight :
"In the street, you should never a brother defame!
For Time, in the city will treat you the same!",
Regarding a man who is good or is bad,
Do not speak any evil! oh sensible lad!
For you make a bad man your own foe, to begin,
And if he be good, you commit a great sin!
Whoever informs you that so and so's vile,
You may safely infer is himself bad, the while.
For, so and so's acts he feels bound to disclose,
And from this wicked action his backbiting shows.
When you speak ill of men, in expressing your view,
You do wrong! even if you should state what is true!
The sayings of men, through their manliness, hear!
To Sádi or Saharward,1 do not give ear!
(OF SAHĀB'S ADVICE TO SÁDI).
My enlightened old tutor, Sahāb, to me gave
Two bits of advice, on the face of the wave!
The first was,
"Conceited of self do not be!"
The second was, "Evil in others, don't see!"
In sland'ring, a man let his tongue freely go;
A distinguished philosopher spoke to him, so :
1 Saharward, Sádï's religious and moral preceptor.
"Those you mention to me, don't with vileness connect!
Regarding yourself, do not make me suspect!
That his dignity suffered abatement, I own;
Thereby, to your honour no increase is shown."
(ON BACKBITING AND ROBBERY).
A person remarked, and I thought it was good,
That better than backbiting, robbery stood.
I replied, "Oh companion, with intellect crazed!
At hearing you talk, I am greatly amazed!
What good do you see in a criminal case,
That you higher than backbiting give it a place?"
"Very well!" he replied, "thieves show rashness, enough;
By the strength of their manhood their stomachs they stuff.
But not, so, the backbiting, meritless wight;
Who blackened his book and secured no delight! "
I once a Nizamiah1 scholarship gained;
Day and night were debates and instruction maintained.
To the tutor I said, "Oh thou, wise in our days!
My friend, so and so, for me envy displays.
When I give the true meaning of any nice text,
The heart of that wicked companion is vexed."
1 Nizamiah, name of a college in Baghdad.
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