The Eagle and the Arrow
Naser Khosrowناصرخسرو
گویند عقابی به در شهری برخاست
They say an eagle rose up at the gate of a city
وز بهر طمع پر به پرواز بیاراست
and, out of greed, spread its wings for flight.
ناگه ز یکی گوشه ازین سخت کمانی
Suddenly, from a corner, a strong-bowed archer
تیری ز قضای بد بگشاد برو راست
loosed an arrow of ill fate straight at it.
در بال عقاب آمد آن تیر جگردوز
That heart-piercing arrow struck the eagle’s wing
وز ابر مرو را به سوی خاک فرو خواست
and brought it down from the clouds to the dust.
زی تیر نگه کرد پر خویش برو دید
It looked at the arrow and saw its own feathers on it,
گفتا «ز که نالیم؟ که از ماست که بر ماست»
and said, ‘Whom shall we blame? What is upon us comes from us.’
A note for readers
This short poem tells the fable of an eagle brought down by an arrow fletched with its own feathers. Its last half-line has become a Persian proverb for misfortune that people bring on themselves. A longer version beginning ‘One day an eagle rose from a rock into the air’ also circulates in anthologies; the text here is the four-couplet version in the corpus of Naser Khosrow’s Divan.
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.