Meet Sadi of Shiraz a celebrated Persian poet and prose writer of the medieval period. Listen to this soulful passage on fleeting life.
Passage
Each moment steals a breath of life once more,
And few, I see, are now remaining over.
What! Fifty years by lethargy possessed !
Yet mayst thou realise the fleeting rest.
Shame on the unready traveller, who is racked
When drum-call finds him with his load unpacked,
Or, though his journey might have been begun,
Lies fast asleep beneath the rising sun.
Successive mortals each a fabric build
And vacant leave to others what they filled
In turn those others like ambition fires,
But none at last accomplished his desires.
Ah, dote not on the World—the treacherous jade
To merit true affection is not made.
How transitory is peace amongst the four
Unbridled humours, with themselves at war!
And if so be that one the mastery win,
Up flies the fair soul to her heavenly kin.
Can wise hearts ever take the world to wife?
Can pure minds linger in the embrace of life?
Since good with evil must go down to earth,
Happy are they who shine in modest worth.
Oh, send provision for the life to come
(For none will bring it after) to thy tomb
Goodman, be not deceived.
Like summer snow
Thy days are melting, thou hast few to go
And if to market empty hands thou bear,
Thou’It fetch no turban home, alas, from there.
Who eats his corn whilst yet the blade is green,
At harvest he a crop of husks will glean.
To Sa’di’s counsel lend a heedful ear.
This is the way. Step forward! Never fear!
Reynold A. Nicholson. Translations of Eastern Poetry and Prose. Cambridge University Press, 1922.
