Only a Good Name Remains
Ferdowsiفردوسی
نباشد جهان بر کسی پایدار
The world stays constant for no one;
همه نام نیکو بود یادگار
all that endures as a keepsake is a good name.
کجا شد فریدون و ضحاک و جم
Where have Fereydun and Zahhak and Jamshid gone,
مهان عرب خسروان عجم
the great men of the Arabs, the kings of the Persians?
کجا آن بزرگان ساسانیان
Where are those great ones of the Sasanians,
ز بهرامیان تا به سامانیان
from the line of Bahram to the Samanids?
نکوهیده تر شاه ضحاک بود
Most blamed of all was King Zahhak,
که بیدادگر بود و ناپاک بود
for he was unjust and impure.
فریدون فرخ ستایش ببرد
Blessed Fereydun carried off the praise:
بمرد او و جاوید نامش نمرد
he died, but his name did not die, and lives for ever.
سخن ماند اندر جهان یادگار
Words remain in the world as a keepsake;
سخن بهتر از گوهر شاهوار
words are better than a royal jewel.
A note for readers
A meditation on fame and justice from the historical part of the Shahnameh, in the reign of the Sasanian king Khosrow Anushirvan. Zahhak, the serpent-shouldered tyrant, and Fereydun, who overthrew him, are figures from the epic’s mythical age. The mention of the Samanids brings the list of rulers down close to Ferdowsi’s own time.
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.