Bird of Dawn, Learn Love from the Moth
Saadiسعدی
ای مرغ سحر! عشق ز پروانه بیاموز
Bird of dawn, learn love from the moth:
کآن سوخته را جان شد و آواز نیامد
that burned one gave up its life, and not a sound came out.
این مدعیان در طلبش بی‌خبرانند
These claimants who search for Him know nothing,
کآن را که خبر شد، خبری باز نیامد
for whoever came to know brought no news back.
A note for readers
From the preface of the Golestan, where Saadi says that those who truly know God cannot describe Him: lovers are the slain of the beloved, and no voice rises from the slain. The nightingale, the bird of dawn, sings of its love; the moth burns in silence. The second couplet plays on khabar, which means both ‘news’ and ‘knowing’.
More poemsشعرهای دیگر
مرغی دیدم نشسته بر باره طوس
در پیش نهاده کله کیکاووس
I saw a bird perched on the ramparts of Tus,
with the skull of Kay Kavus set down before it.
A Bird on the Walls of Tus
یکی قطره باران ز ابری چکید
خجل شد چو پهنای دریا بدید
A drop of rain fell from a cloud;
it was ashamed when it saw the breadth of the sea.
A Drop of Rain
ابتدای کار سیمرغ ای عجب
جلوه‌گر بگذشت بر چین نیم‌شب
The beginning of the Simorgh’s story, how wonderful:
in all his splendour he passed over China at midnight.