Do Not Harm the Ant
Saadiسعدی
چه خوش گفت فردوسی پاک زاد
How well spoke Ferdowsi, of pure birth,
که رحمت بر آن تربت پاک باد
may mercy rest upon his pure grave:
میازار موری که دانه کش است
‘Do not harm the ant that carries grain,
که جان دارد و جان شیرین خوش است
for it has life, and sweet life is dear.’
سیاه اندرون باشد و سنگدل
Black within and hard of heart is he
که خواهد که موری شود تنگدل
who would wish an ant to suffer.
A note for readers
From the Bustan, at the close of a tale about a holy man who carried an ant back home after finding it in his sack of grain. Saadi presents the central couplet as Ferdowsi’s, and it has become one of the best-known lines on kindness to animals in Persian. The excerpt begins in the middle of the passage.
More poemsشعرهای دیگر
یک عمر می‌توان سخن از زلف یار گفت
در بند آن مباش که مضمون نمانده است
One could speak for a lifetime of the beloved’s tresses;
do not fret that there are no themes left.
A Lifetime on the Beloved’s Tresses
بلبلی برگ گلی خوش رنگ در منقار داشت
و اندر آن برگ و نوا خوش ناله‌های زار داشت
A nightingale held in its beak a rose petal of lovely colour,
and with that petal and its song it made sweet, piteous laments.
A nightingale held a rose petal
ستاره ای بدرخشید و ماه مجلس شد
دل رمیده ما را رفیق و مونس شد
A star shone out and became the moon of the gathering,
became friend and companion to our startled heart.