Do not portionless turn the poor man from your
Lest begging at gates should for you be in store.
On the needy, a noble will favours bestow,
For he fears he'll be poor, if he fails to do so.
The state of the broken in heart, keep in view!
Lest you should, hereafter, be heart-broken, too.
To the hearts of the wretched, some gladness impart !
And let not the day of distress leave your heart!
As a beggar, at other men's doors you don't wait!
In gratitude, drive not the poor from your gate!
(ON THE CHERISHING OF ORPHANS AND SHOWING MERCY ON THEIR CONDITION).
A shade o'er the head of the orphan boy put !
Disperse all his sighs and his sorrows uproot!
You know not why he has this helplessness seen?
Does a tree without root ever show itself green?
When you see the sad head of an orphan bent low,
On the face of your son, do not kisses bestow!
If an orphan should weep, who will purchase relief?
And should he be vexed, who will share in his grief?
Take care! lest he weeps, for the great throne on high
Will tremble and shake, should an orphan child cry!
By kindness, the tears from his pure eyes displace!
By compassion, disperse all the dust from his face!
If his own shelt'ring shadow has gone from his head,
Take him under your own fost'ring shadow, instead!
I at that time the head of a monarch possessed,
When I let it recline on my own father's breast;
If a fly on my body made bold to alight,
The hearts of a number were grieved at the sight.
If now, to a dungeon they captive me bear,
Not one of my friends to assist me would care.
The suff'rings of poor orphan children I know;
In my childhood, my father to God had to go.
(ON THE FRUITS OF WELL-DOING).
In a dream Khojand's1 chief saw a person out-root
A thorn, that had stuck in an orphan boy's foot.
He was saying-and strutting in Paradise, free :-
"What roses have grown from that thorn over me?"
While you can, from the practice of mercy don't go !
For on you they'll have mercy, if mercy you show.
When you do one a favour, don't swell with conceit !
Saying, "I am supreme with all else at my feet!"
If the sword of his Time has been driven beneath,
Is the dread sword of Time not still out of its sheath?
When a thousand men blessing your fortune, you see,
To God, for His gifts, let your thankfulness be!
For with hope fixed on you, a vast multitude stand;
And you are not hopeful at any one's hand.
Liberality's special to kings, I've expressed;
I've said wrong; it's a nature by prophets possessed.
1 Khojand, a town in Turkistān.
Story on the Nature of Prophets.
(ABRAHAM AND THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER.)
I have heard :—for a week not a son of the road,
At the liberal guest-house of Abraham showed.
From his sociable nature, he broke not his fast,
Hoping some needy trav'ller might share his repast.
Out he went and most carefully looked all around;
His
gaze travelled over the valley: he found
One alone in the wild, like a willow to sight;
With his head and his hair, from the snow of age, white.
By way of consoling, "You're welcome!" he said;
In the mode of the gen'rous, invitement he made :—
"My eye's tender pupil, oh stranger! thou art;
Be gen'rous, and of my provisions, take part!"
"With pleasure," he said, then arose and progressed,
For he knew the "friend's" nature (on him safety rest!).
The attendants of Abraham's charity Khan,'
In dignity seated the humble old man.
He ordered; they sorted the trays on the ground,
And seated themselves in their places around.
When all at the board, the "bismillah” 2 began,
He heard not the phrase from the feeble old man.
He spoke to him, thus: "Oh old man, full of days!
I see not the old's faith and warmth in your ways.
Before you eat bread, does the rule not hold good,
That you mention the name of the Giver of food?"
He answered, "I keep not the custom, at least;
For it never was taught me by Magian priest."
2 Bismillah, in the name of God.
Then the prophet, of prosperous lot, could detect
That the old wreck belonged to the Magian sect.
He instantly drove him away in disgrace;
For in front of the holy, the vile have no place.
An angel came down from the Maker adored,
And with awe thus rebuked him: "Oh friend of the
Lord!
Food and life I have giv'n him for one hundred years;
Your dislike for the man, in a moment, appears.
Though a person should show adoration for fire,
Why cause Liberality's hand to retire?"
On the purse-mouth of charity, tie not a knot!
Calling this, fraud and folly, and that, tricks and plot.
The religious expounder makes injury spread,
Who barters his knowledge and culture for bread.
How can wisdom with law give decision, indeed !
When a man who is wise, to the world sells the creed?
And yet you should purchase, for he who is wise,
From those who sell cheap, with avidity buys.
(OF THE HOLY MAN AND THE IMPUDENT POET).
To a good-hearted man came a poet, one day,
And said, “I am helplessly stuck in the clay
Ten direms I owe to so squeezing a dun,
That one dang1 from his hand, on my back is a ton.
1 Dang, a small copper coin.
At night, on account of him, wretched's my state;
Like a shadow, all day at my heels he's in wait.
He has made, by harsh language which nature resents,
The core of my heart, like my house door, all rents.
Perhaps God, to him, since the day he was born,
Beside those ten coins, has not given a corn.
To A in Fate's volume, he could not attain;
He has read nothing else than the chapter on gain.
Not a day does the sun from the hills upwards soar,
That that infamous sneak does not knock at my door.
The kind benefactor I'm anxious to know,
Who will save me with coin from that hard-hearted foe."
The kind-natured man heard him chatter and grieve,
And loosened two gold pieces inside his sleeve.
The gold reached the hand of that rare, fabling one;
Out he went with his face shining bright, like the sun.
Some one said to the sheikh-"You don't know this black
Over him, when he dies, 'twould be folly to weep.
The beggar who saddles the tiger, indeed!
Gives the Knight and the Queen to the famed Abuzīd!”1
The servant of God, in a rage, said, “Desist!
You are scarcely a preacher; attentively, list!
If what I imagined, should prove to be right,
I have guarded his honour from people of spite;
If he practised deception and impudence, yet,
Take care not to think I experience regret!
For my honour I've saved, by the money I gave,
From such a deceitful and talkative knave."
On the good and the bad, lavish silver and gold!
One's an excellent work, th' other vice will withhold.
Oh happy is he who with wise men remains,
And the virtues. of those who are pious, obtains !
1 Abuzīd, a famous chess player.
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