But thou, joy-giver and enjoyer,
Unknowing war, unknowing crime,
Gentle Saadi, mind thy rhyme;
Heed not what the brawlers say,
Heed thou only Saadi's lay.
Let the great world bustle on
With war and trade, with camp and town,
A thousand men shall dig and eat ;
At forge and furnace thousands sweat ;
And thousands sail the purple sea,
And give or take the stroke of war,
Or crowd the market and bazaar;
Oft shall war end, and peace return,
And cities rise where cities burn,
Ere one man my hill shall climb,
Who can turn the golden rhyme.
Let them manage how they may,
Heed thou only Saadi's lay.
Seek the living among the dead,—
Man in man is imprisoned;
Barefooted Dervish is not poor,
If fate unlock his bosom's door,
So that what his eye hath seen
His tongue can paint as bright, as keen;
And what his tender heart hath felt
With equal fire thy heart shall melt.
For, whom the Muses smile upon,
And touch with soft persuasion,
His words like a storm-wind can bring
Terror and beauty on their wing;
In his every syllable
Lurketh Nature veritable;
And though he speak in midnight dark,-
In heaven no star, on earth no spark,-
Yet before the listener's eye
Swims the world in ecstasy,
The forest waves, the morning breaks,
The pastures sleep, ripple the lakes,
Leaves twinkle, flowers like persons be,
And life pulsates in rock or tree.
Saadi, so far thy words shall reach :
Suns rise and set in Saadi's speech!"
And thus to Saadi said the Muse:
"Eat thou the bread which men refuse;
Flee from the goods which from thee flee;
Seek nothing,-Fortune seeketh thee.
Nor mount, nor dive; all good things keep
The midway of the eternal deep.
Wish not to fill the isles with eyes
To fetch thee birds of paradise:
On thine orchard's edge belong
All the brags of plume and song;
Wise Ali's sunbright sayings pass
For proverbs in the market-place;
Through mountains bored by regal art,
Toil whistles as he drives his cart.
Nor scour the seas, nor sift mankind,
A poet or a friend to find:
Behold, he watches at the door!
Behold his shadow on the floor!
Open innumerable doors
The heaven where unveiled Allah pours
The flood of truth, the flood of good,
The Seraph's and the Cherub's food:
Those doors are men: the Pariah hind
Admits thee to the perfect Mind.
Seek not beyond thy cottage wall
Redeemers that can yield thee all :
While thou sittest at thy door
On the desert's yellow floor,
Listening to the gray-haired crones,
Foolish gossips, ancient drones,
Saadi, see! they rise in stature
To the height of mighty Nature,
And the secret stands revealed
Fraudulent Time in vain concealed,-
That blessed gods in servile masks
Plied for thee thy household tasks."
ROM fall to spring the russet acorn, Fruit beloved of maid and boy, Lent itself beneath the forest,
To be the children's toy.
Pluck it now! In vain,-thou canst not;
Its root has pierced yon shady mound.
Toy no longer it has duties;
It is anchored in the ground.
Year by year the rose-lipped maiden,
Playfellow of young and old,
Was frolic sunshine, dear to all men,
More dear to one than mines of gold.
Whither went the lovely hoyden ?
Disappeared in blessed wife;
Servant to a wooden cradle,
Living in a baby's life.
Still thou playest ;—short vacation
Fate grants each to stand aside;
Now must thou be man and artist,-
'Tis the turning of the tide.
HE sinful painter drapes his goddess warm, Because she still is naked, being dressed: The godlike sculptor will not so deform
Beauty, which limbs and flesh enough invest.
FROM THE PERSIAN OF HAFIZ.
The poems of Hafiz are held by the Persians to be allegoric and mystical. His German editor, Von Hammer, remarks on the following poem, that, "though in appearance anacreontic, it may be regarded as one of the best of those compositions which earned for Hafiz the honourable title of 'Tongue of the Secret.""
UTLER, fetch the ruby wine
Which with sudden greatness fills us;
Pour for me, who in my spirit
Fail in courage and performance;
Bring this philosophic stone,
Karun's treasure, Noah's age;
Haste, that by thy means I open
All the doors of luck and life.
Bring me, boy, the fire-water
Zoroaster sought in dust :
To Hafiz, revelling, 'tis allowed
To pray to Matter and to Fire.
Bring the wine of Jamschid's glass,
Which glowed, ere time was, in the Neant;
Give it me, that through its virtue
I, as Jamschid, see through worlds.
Wisely said the Kaisar Jamschid,
"The world's not worth a barleycorn: "
Bring me, boy, the nectar cup,
Since it leads to Paradise.
Flute and lyre lordly speak;
Lees of wine outvalue crowns.
Hither bring the veiled beauty,
Who in ill-famed houses sits:
Bring her forth; my honest name
Freely barter I for wine.
Bring me, boy, the fire-water ;—
Drinks the lion,-the woods burn;
Give it me, that I storm heaven,
Tear the net from the arch-wolf:
Wine wherewith the Houris teach
Angels the way to Paradise!
On the glowing coals I'll set it,
And therewith my brain perfume.
Bring me wine, through whose effulgence
Jam and Chosroes yielded light;
Wine, that to the flute I sing
Where is Jam, and where is Kauss.
Bring the blessing of old times,
Bless the old departed Shahs!
Bring it me, the Shah of hearts!
Bring me wine to wash me clean
Of the weather-stains of cares,
See the countenance of luck.
While I dwell in spirit-gardens,
Wherefore stand I shackled here ?
Lo, this mirror shows me all !
Drunk, I speak of purity,
Beggar, I of lordship speak;
When Hafiz in his revel sings,
Shouteth Sohra in her sphere.
Fear the changes of a day:
Bring wine which increases life,
Since the world is all untrue,
Let the trumpets thee remind
How the crown of Kobad vanished.
Be not certain of the world,-
'Twill not spare to shed thy blood.
Desperate of the world's affair,
Came I running to the wine-house.
Give me wine which maketh glad,
That I may my steed bestride,
Through the course career with Rustem,—
Gallop to my heart's content;
Give me, boy, the ruby cup
Which unlocks the heart with wine,
That I reason quite renounce,
And plant banners on the worlds.
Let us make our glasses kiss;
Let us quench the sorrow-cinders:
To-day let us drink together;
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