'Twould therefore be folly and madness in one,
A finger to place on a work He has done.
On the gait of a man, let your thoughts be profound!
How together some bones He has jointed and bound!
Without moving the ankle, the knee and the toe,
A step from the spot one's unable to go!
A man without trouble can make himself prone,
For his back is not fashioned from one piece of bone.
He has two hundred bones on each other so laid,
That a tall, clayey structure, like you, He has made!
The veins of your body, oh you, of sweet looks!
Form a mead with three hundred and sixty rich brooks.
In the head are established reflection and sight;
There, too, are discretion and thinking aright.
The body is dear, on account of the mind;
And the mind, too, for knowledge most precious you find. The brutes, being mean, have a down-hanging face; You're erect on your feet like an Alif" 1 in grace.
He has placed their mouths downwards, to help them to feed ;
The food to your mouth, you with dignity lead.
It does not look well, when such pref'rence is shown,
That you bow your head down save to worship alone.
And yet with this form, that can pleasure inspire,
Be not of dazzled! a good disposition acquire !
You require the straight road, not a stature that's straight;
For the scoffer is like us in figure and gait.
Do not seek to contend against Him, if you're wise, Who gave you your ears and your mouth and your eyes!
I admit you don't batter your foe with a stone;
Do not fight with the Friend, out of rudeness alone!
Those of wise disposition who gratitude know,
Their wealth with the needle of thanksgiving sew.
Alif, the first letter of the alphabet.
(OF THE KING AND THE GREEK PHYSICIAN).
From a dark-coloured horse fell a king, used to war,
Displacing a bone of his neck by the jar.
On his body his head like an elephant's shrunk ;
He could not look round without turning his trunk.
The physicians perplexed could not give him release;
But a doctor who came from the country of Greece,
Re-twisted his head, and his body grew straight;
Had the doctor not come, sad had been the king's state!
When again he came near to the king with his train,
A look from the creature he did not obtain.
The doctor, ashamed at the slight, hung his head;
I have heard, that when leaving, in whispers he said:
"If his neck I had yesterday failed to replace,
He would not, to-day, have averted his face."
He sent him a seed by the hand of a slave;
On a censer to roast it, directions he gave.
The king gave a sneeze, from the vapour it bore,
And his head and his neck turned the same as before!
With excuses, they followed the man all around,
And searched for him much, but no trace of him found.
Turn your neck not from thanking the Bountiful One!
Or your head will appear at the judgment undone.
Remarks on Viewing the Works of God, the
Most High.
For your comfort, the night and the day were begun,
The moon shining bright and the world-warming sun.
Like a spreader of carpets, the sky over head,
Commands Beauty's carpet for you to be spread.
If you've clouds and the rain and the wind and the snow
The roaring of thunder and lightning's bright glow;
To be workers obedient to orders they're found,
For they bring up the seed that you sow in the ground.
At the hardship don't burn, should you thirsty remain !
For the pluvial cloud on its shoulder brings rain.
Food, perfume, and colour He brought from the Earth,-
The palate, the brain, and the eye's source of mirth.
From the bee you have honey, and manna from wind,
Ripe dates from the palms, palms from seeds of their
All the gardeners gnaw at their hands in surprise,
For a date-tree like this none has caused to arise.
Sun and moon are for you, and the Pleiades, far,
The lamps of the roof of your residence are.
From thorns He brought roses and musk from the pod;
Pure gold from the mine, and moist leaves from a rod.
Your eyebrows and eyes with His own hand He penned ;
For to strangers he could not relinquish his friend.
So pow'rful! he nurtures that delicate one;
With various bounties the work is thus done.
From the soul ev'ry morning let praises be shown!
For to render Him thanks is not tongue-work alone.
Oh God! my heart bleeds, and my eyes become sore,
For I find that Thy gifts than my praises are more.
Not beasts, ants and fishes alone, I can tell,
But the army of angels in Heaven, as well,
As yet but a part of Thy praises have told;
But one, they have stated, in one hundredfold.
Go! oh Sádi, your hand and your record wash clean!
Do not run on a road where no ending is seen!
(ON MAKING A GOOD USE OF THE TONGUE).
A man rubbed the ears of a boy very hard,
Saying, "Frivolous talker! with fortune ill-starred !
I gave you an axe to cut firewood up fine;
I said not, 'The wall of the mosque undermine!'
The tongue to give thanks and to praise with you got;
For to backbite, the grateful man uses it not.
The Koran and advice have their way through the ear;
False accusing and falsehood, take care not to hear!
Two eyes, for beholding God's wonders, are well,
Not on faults of a friend or a brother to dwell.
On Inquiring into the State of the Weak, and
Thanking God for His Favours.
No one knows of the worth of the days of delight,
Unless he has, once, been in desperate plight.
Before a rich person, how easy appear
Cold, winter and want, in a famine-struck year?
He who snake-bitten slept, after being distressed,
For curing him, thanks to the Master expressed.
Since in foot you are rapid, and manly in gait,
With slow moving trav'llers in thankfulness wait!
Do the young on the old many favours bestow?
Do the strong for the weak any sympathy show?
Of water's worth, what do Jihoonians 1 know?
Ask of those left behind in the sun's parching glow!
1Jihoonians, people living on the banks of the river Jihoon, situated between Khurāsān and Balkh.
What grief for the parch'd, in Zarood's desert wide,
Has the Arab who sits by the Tigris' green side?
The man knows the value of health, in his case,
Who, helpless, has melted in fever a space.
When will the dark night appear long to your mind, Since, from side unto side, you can turn when inclined?
On the falling and rising of ague, reflect!
For the man who is ill the long night can detect.
The master awoke by the drum's sound at last;
Does he know how the night of the sentinel passed?
(OF SULTAN TOGHRÁL AND THE SLAVE GUARD).
I have heard that Toghrál,' on a cold, wintry night,
Passed a slave-guard on duty and saw his sad plight.
From the falling of snow and the torrents of rain,
Like Canópus, he could not from trembling refrain.
For the watchman, his heart out of pity grew hot,
And he said, "Take this mantle of sheepskin, I've got !
Near the roof for a moment, expecting it, stand!
And I'll send it without, by a slave stripling's hand."
The wind in the meantime a hurricane blew,
As inside his palace the king slipped from view.
He possessed in his household a fairy-faced slave,
To whose charms a good share of attention he gave.
On beholding the maiden, such joy did he find,
That the wretched slave sentry escaped from his mind.
The mantle of sheepskin went through the slave's ear;
From bad luck, on his shoulders it did not appear.
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