Masnavi · 13th century

The Moth and the Candle

Saadiسعدی

شبی یاد دارم که چشمم نخفت

I remember a night when my eyes would not sleep;

شنیدم که پروانه با شمع گفت

I heard the moth say to the candle:

که من عاشقم گر بسوزم رواست

‘I am the lover; if I burn, it is only right.

تو را گریه و سوز باری چراست؟

But why should you weep and burn?’

بگفت ای هوادار مسکین من

It said, ‘My poor devoted one,

برفت انگبین یار شیرین من

the honey, my sweet companion, has left me.

چو شیرینی از من به در می‌رود

As sweetness goes out of me,

چو فرهادم آتش به سر می‌رود

fire runs over my head, as it ran over Farhad’s.’

همی گفت و هر لحظه سیلاب درد

So it spoke, and every moment a flood of pain

فرو می‌دویدش به رخسار زرد

ran down its yellow cheek.

که ای مدعی عشق کار تو نیست

‘You pretender, love is not your business,

که نه صبر داری نه یارای ایست

for you have neither patience nor the strength to stand.

تو بگریزی از پیش یک شعله خام

You flee before a single raw flame;

من استاده‌ام تا بسوزم تمام

I stand here until I burn away entirely.

تو را آتش عشق اگر پر بسوخت

If the fire of love has burned your wings,

مرا بین که از پای تا سر بسوخت

look at me, burned from foot to head.’

From: The Bustan (The Orchard)
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

A dialogue from the third chapter of the Bustan, on love. The moth, the lover who throws himself into the flame, asks why the candle weeps; the candle, whose wax has been parted from its honey, answers that its own burning is greater, with a play on Shirin, whose name means ‘sweet’, and Farhad, her lover in Persian romance. In the lines that follow, the candle is put out and draws the moral: this is the end of love. The excerpt gives the first eight couplets.