| . | |
| (6) 'A masnawi satirizing Mirza Fidwi', literally translated and annotated by FWP | == It's a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Henry Court. In my own translation and notes I plan to borrow freely from his, and include some outright. I want to do my own version not because I have problems with his, but just for my own interest. I take Hasan as my main text; his readings are invariably more plausible. |
| NOTE: There's a "script bar" at the bottom of the page. | [meter: = - - = / = - = // = - - = / = - = ] |
| *old Urdu page 1*; *modern Urdu page 1* | |
| 1) Friends, God is one, and second to Him the true prophet, For whom He created the aspect/appearance of tablet and pen |
== Throughout the masnavi Sauda constantly engages in literary wordplay; here's just one example, as the reference to the theological tablet (see Court's note) also evokes the poet's writing equipment. |
| 2) Just for a bit please speak truthfully, I adjure you
by their names. Today, your tongue is open; tomorrow it is closed. |
== The word ;Tuk was ubiquitous
in the poetry of that time; it was used the way ;zaraa
came to be used later on, to mean 'little, small' (with the related sense
of courteous minimization, the way we use 'just' in English: 'will you
please just...') == The first line has two separate uses of hii , which can be either restrictive or emphatic, or both. |
| 3) For hearing and understanding a matter, Truth/God gave us ears
and sense; One ought not to remain silent today about on whose side the truth would be. |
== The two occurrences of ;haq form a suggestive counterpoint. |
| 4) For a man to speak the truth is a part of good faith; If he would lie, then a Musalman's religion [diin] is nonexistent. |
== iimaan is a general quality, like 'good faith' or 'integrity'; it should be practiced by non-Muslims too. By contrast, the second line specifically applies to Muslims. |
| 5) There's one reputable man who has arrived in Ahmadnagar [in
Gujarat] From head to foot he's [made of] understanding; and he's altogether judgment. |
== The two different 'head to foot' expressions are made to adjoin each other in an amusing way; the overkill is pointedly evident. |
| 6) He makes objections to everyone's verses, And considers his own notebook better than the Divan of Jami. |
== Court: "Bayaz" literally means a white,
plain, unwritten book; secondly a pocket-book, in which selections of
the poets' works have been collected. == Jami is of course one of the most famous Persian poets. |
| 7) Hazrat Master Sauda, who is my Ustad, He seeks to criticize even his poetry. |
== Court: Sauda, to prevent people saying he was a boaster
of his own works, cleverly tries to make out that Sauda was not himself,
but his tutor. == In the 'Ishrat edition, the first line is worded so as to remove the idea that the speaker is not Sauda; instead, the reference is to all those who are Ustads. |
| 8) He went somewhere, and heard his verse In which there is a connection by religion [diin]of Shaikh and Brahmin. |
|
| 9) Having become proud of his understanding of poetry, he says, "Religion [diin] is only/especially of the Shaikh, and the Brahmin has 'dharma' [dharm]." |
|
|
10) His speech/poetry is absurd; he himself is more absurd. |
== The word kalaam can refer to
the claim he's making now, and also to his poetry in general. == It's not only that he's not a poet, it's that he doesn't even have any ordinary, externally available information [;xabar] about poetry at all. |
| 11) Now, having heard this claim, burning with indignation, I speak: Let all the friends open the ear of understanding just a bit, and listen. |
|
| 12) Those who are Qur'an-readers, on my behalf If some one among you is gracious, please ask [him] this much: |
== There's a bit of textual confusion in the first line; the general sense is clear, but not every detail. |
| *modern Urdu page 2* | |
| 13) "Why would you wash away the verses of the Kuran, In which the infidels are addressed, 'Your own religion [diin] for you'? |
== Court: The rest of this verse is, "Wa laya deen"; "for us our own religion." |
| 14) To both, 'religion' [diin] is applicable,
on the part of the Qur'an Whether someone is a Brahmin or a Musalman. |
|
| 15) Have you understood the connection of 'religion' [diin]
to be only with the Shaikh? How much of an error you yourself have made, in your arrogance [zulai;xaa))ii]! |
== 'Zulaikha-ness' evokes the self-will and stubbornness of the 'Potiphar's wife' figure in the Qur'an, and also the many poems about her, one famous one of which is by Jami. |
| 16) If 'religion' [diin] would be one, then
there wouldn't be the plural 'religions' [adyaan] If any man wouldn't understand that, it would only be a foolish one." |
|
|
17) In short, look at his objection-- is it sensible? |
== Court: There is here a play on the words "maruf" and "majhul," both techuical terms in grammar, regarding which a slight dispute has been going on. "Maruf" is the active, and "majhul" the passive, voice, and their coming to mean "known" and "unknown" arises from the nominative of an active verb being known, and that of a passive one, unknown. |
| *old Urdu page 2* | |
| 18) Let him see that the warrant [sanad]
of the verse is the speech/poetry [kalaam] of the
Truth/God Let him always abuse his own wrong understanding. |
|
| 19) You have heard, oh justice-doers, this question and answer, Later on, look and see how he is steadily devastated! |
|
| 20) But consider it certain, for Truth/God is a witness to it, Whether, in this affair, my sin is even a speck/grain. |
|
| 21) It was not appropriate/necessary for him to come to this city, And tangle like this with one who is unique in the age |
|
| 22) If he had burst out like this against somebody when among his
own friends Then someone would have counted him too among the five horsemen. |
== Court: The following story is here referred to: Four horsemen were going on a journey, when a potter came up to them riding on a jackass, and joined them; presently they met a passer-by, who asked them where they were going; the rider on the jackass, thinking it would be very fine to be taken as a friend of the horsemen, sharply answered, "'We five horsemen are all going to Delhi." |
| 23) That he would set foot beyond his limits to this extent! That he would journey along, wandering around from house to house, making mock of his [=Sauda's] poetry like this! |
|
| 24) On this much basis, sirs, he came and picked a quarrel with
him [=Sauda] So that someone would consider that he too was some great poet. |
|
| 25) They are great, whom God/truth would make great He who proclaims himself great, would make himself a fool. |
|
| 26) If this is the reason that he's brought his 'Zulaikha' [zulai;xaa]
here So that he would make it into a test of the power of the poets, |
== It sounds as though Fidvi had composed a poem with that title; Court's interpretation seems wrong to me. |
| 27) Having seen the extent/scope of his 'beauty of meanings' [=poetic
powers] According to it let him associate with poets. |
|
| 28) And 'Zulaikha', which/who is famous in the world, Is very remote from his understanding and comprehension. |
== The reference can be either to a poem, presumably Jami's, or to the actual character in the Qur'an. |
| 29) Any of you who might feel pain on behalf of Maulvi Jami, Let someone ask him, is Zulaikha a woman or a man? |
== Court: Schoolboys often ask each other, "What book are you reading?" and if the answer is "Zulaikha," then they again ask, "Was Zulaikha a man, or a woman?" Zulaikha looks more like a man's name than a woman's, and, on one occasion, a small boy replied "Zulaikha was a man." This is the allusion here made, the poet meaning to infer, that if the question were put to the Mirza, he would know no better than the boy, and thereby the superiority of Moulvie Jami would be thoroughly established. |
| 30) He says, boasting about himself, to every single one, "Who is a language-knower like me? Ask everybody, good and bad! |
|
| 31) Among the poets of Hind, I went as far as Iran, Having gone as far as Khurasan, I learned the language of that place too. |
|
| 31.5) In Persian, who here can now look me in the eye? As for composing in Rekhtah, that's worth nothing to me!" |
== This verse is omitted from Court's translation and
from the 'Ishrat text. I've given it a halfway number to maintain easy
comparability. == Rekhtah is an older name for Urdu. |
| 32) But when his speech/poetry [su;xan] has
reached the ears of the intelligent Smiling/laughing, they say, "God is the Knower! |
== This phrase is a formulaic way to distance oneself from some idea and disavow all responsibility for it. |
| 33) He went to Khurasan-- although even if he would go to Mecca, The way he went from here-- in just that way he would come back from there." |
|
| *modern Urdu page 3* | |
| 34) From his absurd tongue, verse was undertaken The poor scribe/calligrapher became, for nothing, the target of abuse. |
== Literally, verse became sarzad
, so that the word for 'head' resonates with the word for 'tongue' == I don't agree with Court's idea that kaatib would here refer to the author of the poetry as well. |
| 35) Now he has an ardor for composing verses that are disconnected
[be-rab:t] and absurd, Despite this, he has such a taste for fame in the world! |
== For a two-line poem to be internally disconnected
[be-rab:t], to have no tight mutual connections
between the lines, is a terrible flaw. == In the second line yih is used colloquially to emphasize the amount or force of what it modifies. |
| 36) Those who are poets, in their verses would bring in their pen-name, But this one would not tell his name without his pen-name. |
== That is, he's determined to make everyone he meets aware that he is a poet. |
| 37) About this, a memory has come to mind of an appropriate anecdote, He who would be a speech/poetry-understander, let him do justice to the essence/brain of the speech/poetry |
|
STORY |
|
| 38) There was a debtor who owed money to a Baniyah, As for repaying it, he was utterly without recourse. |
== Court calls him a soldier, which it turns out he is, but we don't learn the fact until verse 54. |
| 39) No paise or takke came into his hand, In the interest and in the principal he had remained so ensnared. |
== Court: A takka is equal to two pice. |
| *old Urdu page 3* | |
| 40) By good fortune, an owl fell into his hands, Having thought in his heart, "we [will] trick the Baniyah," |
== The debtor calls himself 'we' just colloquially, not to show that he has a collaborator. |
|
41) He tied a paiza on it, and and put a hood on its head, |
== Court: A paeza is a leather slip-knot tied to the
legs of falcons, and also used as a protection for the hand. == That vaah vaah could refer to the "falcon" itself, or to his good fortune in acquiring it. |
| 42) And he arranged to pass by the Baniyah's shop Having seen the owl, the Baniyah called to him, |
|
43) Smilingly/laughingly he began to ask, "Sir, what kind
of animal/creature is this? |
== Here I think kai is a colloquially
shortened form of kaisaa . Court takes it as an
exclamation of praise, but it could quite well be a genuine question. == I think the Baniyah is swearing by a Hindu god, but it's hard to recognize: in Hasan it's parmkhaa and in 'Ishrat (the less scholarly edition) it's parnkhaa . Could it come from parmeshvar ? Court says "The merchant's speeches are given in the patois of that class"-- which isn't very helpful. Court takes it as a polite form of address for the soldier. I am planning to check on this further; what I've got may well be wrong. |
| 44) Happily he said, "Everybody calls this a falcon, He bestows it on anyone to whomr He would show generosity. |
|
| 45) Kings, nobles, ministers hunt with it, The value and worth of it is from hundreds to a thousand." |
|
| 46) Having heard this, the Baniyah said, "It's a bird-- this
is my opinion, Tell me truly, by Parmeshvar(?), is its name 'falcon'? |
== The Baniyah calls it a murg , rather than a mur;G , as another indication of his un-Persianized intonation; similarly, he says baaj instead of baaz . He also says bhaa))o;N for bhaav , in the sense apparently of 'opinion, attitude'; and naa))o;N for naam . |
| 47) He said, "Sah ji, having told you a lie, for me What profit will there be from a lie-- will you weigh out something?" |
== Court: Sahjee is a title given to grain merchants,
shop-keepers, and bankers. == The debtor points out that he has nothing to gain from telling a lie about this, since the Baniyah won't reward him with any merchandise. |
| 48) Then he began to ask, "Tell me, what does it eat?" He said, "Milk and boiled rice, and nothing except that." |
|
| 49) The Baniyah, in short, having inquired about these things, Began to casually inquire, from house to house, the price of a falcon. |
|
| 50) "Tell me the truth, what's the price of a falcon? A buyer has a deep desire for one." |
== He says saa;Nch for sach ; bhaa))o for price; khariidaar for ;xariidaar , and so on, using very dialectical vocabulary. |
| 51) Whatever the price of a falcon would be, everyone told it to
him, The Baniyah kept in his heart whatever he had heard from anyone. |
|
| 52) Having heard its price, in short, he said, "This will
be a good bargain." And in the heart of the Baniyah, the getting of the falcon was determined on. |
== Court: The word "burd" is equivalent to "dao," meaning a wager, but this sense of it is not given in the Dictionaries. The idiom "dao banna" means literally, "an opportunity for laying a good wager to have come to hand," hence, "to be a good bargain." |
| *modern Urdu page 4* | |
| 53) At night, he began to consult this with his wife: "Are you listening, Prabhavati? What's your opinion about this? |
== For 'wife' we have joruu . Court translates prabhaavatii as 'lovely one', but it could also be her name. |
| 54) Some funds of mine have been lent to a soldier, I now have no hope of getting them in cash. |
== He says nakd instead of naqd . |
| 55) I saw a really pretty large falcon in his possession, I would now buy it tomorrow, if the deal would come about." |
== He says kaal instead of kal
, a usage which according to Platts is 'Braj and rustic'. == There are textual discrepancies at the end of the second line, but the general sense is not in doubt. |
| 56) The Banaini, having heard this, said, "Oh fool-- are you
well? Its food is meat-- we are hostile to that." |
== Court: Meaning "What is the matter with you?" == She also exclaims uut , which may be kind of women's expression; Court takes it as a term of abuse, meaning 'fool', and I've adopted his reading. See also verse 75. |
| 57) Having heard this, the Baniyah said, "Who said this thing? No indeed, oh Prabhavati, I swear by Ram-- milk and rice." |
|
| 58) She said, "If this is true, then bring it in the morning. Don't worry about whether [the price is] little or much, however you buy it, then sell it thus." |
|
| 59) When his wife said that, then the Baniyah went at daybreak, Having taken his account book under his arm, and put his pen behind his ear, |
|
| 60) Having come to the soldier's house, he said, "Mirja ji,
come out! Make up your account today, and repay your debt to me." |
== Court: Mirzajee is a title given to Mughals; the derivation of mirza is "mir," "a prince," and "za," "born of." |
| 61) Having heard these words, the soldier began to say, "Be
off! Do I have today any money stored up for you here? |
|
| 62) When my falcon will be sold, I will settle your account; Don't trouble the penniless; go in safety quickly to your house." |
|
| *old Urdu page 4* | |
| 63) Having heard this, the Baniyah said, "Is there any enmity
in a loan? The 'safety' that you've spoken of-- you have 'safety' today. |
== Court: Meaning "Is this the way for a debtor
to behave towards his creditor?" .... The soldier uscd the word "safety"
in a threatening sense, and the grain merchant now likewise uses it to
him, meaning if he did not settle the account, it would not be well for
him. == He uses karj for qar.z , and of course khair for ;xair |
| 64) You were courteous, Mirja ji, in taking a loan from me, Why do you become heated now, in giving it back? |
|
| 65) If you would settle my account only on the sale of the falcon, Then give me the falcon itself, having fixed some appropriate price for it." |
|
| 66) Having heard this speech, the soldier became very glad at heart,
But appearing to be cold, he said to him, |
|
|
67) "Just look at your own face-- will you buy this falcon? |
== He implies that the Baniyah should come to his senses and not seek to deal in something so far from his proper wares as a grocer; he's showing his own contempt for mere business, as opposed to the more aristocratic pursuit of a military career. |
| 68) Having heard this, the Baniyah burst out, "There's the
wrath of Parmeshvar! Let no one give a loan to anyone-- this is an extraordinary city!" |
== The last word in the first line is kahar in Hasan, which I read as qahr ; it thus rhymes with shahr at the end of the second line. He's apparently warning the soldier to fear God's vengeance. |
| 69) Having heard this speech of the Baniyah's, the soldier became
calm and said, "Tell me, as you value your religion [dharm], whatever amount the debt would be." |
|
| 70) Then the Baniyah showed him, having opened the account book
to him, 'Two hundred rupees' was indeed written in it under his name. |
|
| 71) He set a price of five hundred; on this there was a vigorous discussion. When they had settled the dispute, the result was three hundred. |
|
| 72) He gave the owl into his custody, having "weighed his
words" [and tricked him] He made good the debt of two hundred; he "hit him up" for a hundred more. |
== Court: The poet, to keep the metre, has had to transpose
the "men" and "ki"; the real reading would be "baton
ki mizan men tolna,"" to weigh in the scale of words,"
i.e. in sharpness and artfulness, hence, to deceive. == Court: "Dhaul jarna or marna" literally means "to slap or wallop"; the secondary signification is "to take in, or deceive." |
| 73) The soldier, having tricked the Baniyah, went away, The merchant brought it and said, laughingly/smilingly, to his wife, |
|
| *modern Urdu page 5* | |
| 74) "Just look, Prabhavati, through Parmeshvar(?)-- it's the
falcon! Through the grace of Ram ji, today we have sovereignty." |
== He says phajl for fa.zl
. == Court: Meaning, that he would make his fortune by selling it. |
|
75) Having looked, she said, "Oh fool, do you know, |
== On uut see verse 56. == She is made to say maluum instead of ma((luum , either to show a rustic pronunciation or for the sake of scansion. == Court: Turk is the term by which Hindoos designate Mussulmans, and the Persian word "bum" is used for an owl. |
| 76) People do not mention its name, in the world, early in the
morning. You have lost, along with the loan, a heap of rupees in cash." |
== Court: Hindoos and Mussulmans do not like, in the morning, to mention the name of any bad thing, as it is considered an ill omen for the day; the poet's meaning is that the owl is an inauspicious creature. |
| 77) The moment he heard this, his senses flew away like a falcon, He wanted now to go and return it to the soldier. |
== Since older Urdu markedly prefers direct discourse, he wanted, literally, 'that I would go and return it'. |
| 78) When he arrived there, beating his head and breast, He didn't hear his name, and he didn't see any trace of him. |
|
| 79) Then, flinging the dust of the streets onto his head, He came to the Banaini, weeping and half-dead, |
|
| 80) He began to say, "Alas! What a trick he has played! He has taken away from my house, for free, a hundred in cash and two hundred in property!" |
== He says mupht instead of muft . |
| 81) Then, having reflected, the Baniyah formed this thought in
his heart, "I have to sell it, having made the matter well-known." |
|
| 82) If the word of its being in my possession, would spread, Perhaps some other fool like myself would turn up." |
|
| 83) Having tied the own to a peg, he sat in his shop, From morning to evening, and from evening to dawn; |
|
| 84) When anyone asked, "What merchandise do you have?" Then the Baniyah immediately brought this speech to his tongue: |
|
| 85) "Tell me truly, if you want to buy anything whatsoever, Everything is here, through the mercy of Ram; I have it-- and I also have an owl." |
|
END OF THE STORY |
*old Urdu page 5* |
| 86) Here, in short, from this anecdote, my object/property is this: Comparable to this very anecdote, is his situation too. |
|
| 87) He wanted, with this [degree of] understanding, to buy a falcon
of meaning That, having come from country to country, he would give it more fame. |
|
| 88) He found just such another seller [as the soldier]-- When he had realized his [=Fidvi's] manner of understanding and wisdom, |
|
| 89) With the needle of blindness, he sewed up the eye of his heart,
Calling it the falcon of meaning, he gave him an owl. |
|
| 90) Having tied up an owl in place of a falcon, he wants to find
fame, If you merely ask his name, then he would tell you his pen-name. |
|
| 91) The way he [=the soldier] told the Baniyah that the owl was
a falcon, God/truth gave him [=Fidvi] stupidity in place of poetry. |
== There's a nice wordplay between ;haq and a;hmaq . |
| 92) In his heart there's now this anxiety, night and day: Having sold it, he would take for himself dignity/prestige. |
|
| 93) A kind friend of his has arrived in this very city, He keeps a perfumer's shop along the road. |
|
| 94) He [=Fidvi] remains seated there from morning until evening, All the four watches, he babbles about verses. |
|
| *modern Urdu page 6* | |
| 95) If anyone, from the owner of the shop, for any medicine Should ask, then he would answer, "I have that, and I also have Fidvi." |
|
| 96) He wasn't able to become a poet, and he had set his heart to
such an extent on fame-- The ignorant person made his pen-name into the Baniyah's owl. |
== Court: That is to say, in the way in which he made
it known, by mentioning it every time he was asked for any article. == With, of course, the additional implication that its relationship to real poetry was like that of the owl to a falcon. |
| 97) As much wisdom as the Banaini had-- he didn't have even that
much. He who is an owl, has considered himself a falcon. |
|
| 98) Just such is another verse too of Hazrat the Ustad's, Which the people have written on their hearts with the pen of understanding. |
== Court: Meaning himself, the Laureate, Sauda. == Court: Meaning that they considered it so good, that they paid great attention to it, and committed it to memory. |
| 99) When, having heard it, they liked its theme [ma.zmuun], Then I versified it in this meter: |
== Here the 'I' would seem to refer to the fake 'pupil'; though perhaps it's just an oversight and Sauda is speaking in his own voice. The meaning would seem to be that the verse was so popular that Sauda reframed it to fit into the meter being used in the current masnavi. |
| 100) "Where you opened your closed robe, darling, The morning breeze went to the garden and opened the ear of the rose." |
== Court: This means that such perfumed odours came from the bosom of his loved one, that the morning breeze, the conveyer of all fragrant smells, went and told the womlerful news to the rose, whose fragrance is supposed to be the best of best, and quite astonished it. |
|
101) Thus Miyan Fidvi took and tore the ear of the rose in such
a way, |
== Here yih has an emphatic, attention-grabbing
sense. It can't modify Fidvi, since it's not in the oblique. == It's not clear whether garm garm should apply to the physical warmth of the eye, or the enthusiasm of Fidvi himself. == Court: The meaning of these two lines is that Fidwi, as will be seen from the next couplet but one, has transposed Sauda's words, and used the eye instead of the ear. The eye is always compared by Oriental writers to the narcissus, and the ear to the rose, as in Sauda's lines above, but the Mirza had misapplied them, and invented a foolish, but what he himself thought a wise, idea. These two lines are another bone of contention betweeu the two. |
| 102) Now he says in all directions in the [poetic] gatherings,
turning aside his face, "It was a verse of one full ser-- thus I gave it one and a half sers: |
== He turns aside in a show of modesty. == Court: That is to say, he had greatly improved it. |
| 103) When you opened your two eyes in coquetry, darling, Having heard this, the morning breeze opened the ear of the narcissus." |
== Court: Fidwi has substituted "do chashm" for "band-i-kaba," and "ghuncha-i-nargis ke kan khole," instead of "un ke kan khole." The comparison, as I have said above, is quite wrong. |
| 104) Just this is the situation-- understand it so, oh gentlemen! Although, having gone to his ears, it would now be in this style. |
== The grammar of the second line is very obscure, and there are textual differences too. I'm not satisfied with Court's or my results. |
| 105) In addition to the borrowing/plagiarism [sarqah],
here is one more of its flaws: Under the sky, where is the beloved of whom this is the manner, |
|
| 106) That she would remain seated in the garden, eyes closed, for all
the eight watches, And would open them at the moment of coquetry, in order to bring disaster upon the narcissus? |
== Court: Lit, "the eight watches," there
being four in the day, and four in the night; hence "night and day." == Court: Meaning, the narcissus would be abashed, and therefore a calamity would fall on it, as although it is compared to the eye, yet the human eye is far superior to it in beauty. |
| 107) The comparison of the ear has come down to us as, with the
rose, They have always called the aspect of the narcissus, the eye. |
|
|
108) He'd hardly [;xaak] be able now
to give an answer to the speech/idea of the poets! |
== The idiomatic ;xaak , literally
'dust', also resonates nicely with the garden imagery. == Court: "Nak katwana" means literally to cause the nose of anyone or thing to be cut," and metaphorically, "to be beaten." The poet here implies that his poetry was so contemptible, that even ehildren could compose better. |
| *old Urdu page 6* | |
|
109) The nose and the ear have been 'torn off and added' [to;R
jo;R] by him. |
== Court: Lit. "The nose and ear have been broken
and joined by him"; "jor tor karna" idiomatically means
in Oordoo, "to manage any affair or business economically." == Court: "Hor badna" means "to lay a wager." This is a very difficult passage to understand; it means that Sauda would bet his life against the Mirza having applied the word "nose" in its proper place; if he was wrong, he would give his life, but if right, he would cut off the nose of his adversary, a sign of the greatest contempt and disgrace. |
|
110) Now if he would be a civilized person [insaan],
then the nose of wisdom has been lost! |
== That is, it would be a disgrace to wisdom to consider
him an insaan . == Court: Asiatics compare the narcissus, from its shape, with the human eye, and they believe. that it acts as a guard over the garden, and is always very cautious and vigilant; but unlike the human eye, it never closes, or takes any sleep. This line means, that the Mirza. should, in future, be on his guard, and take warning, and not commit such an egregious mistake. "Kan hona" idiomaticalIy signifies, "to be cautious, vigilant, on one's guard, or to take warning." == The wordplay of kaan honaa as applied to the narcissus fits most deliciously into Sauda's rhetoric here. |
| 111) In poetry, let him not cut cut roses and flowers like this,
without a warrant [sanad], Entering into the virtue/right [;haq] of poets, let him never again say 'good' and 'bad'. |
== A sanad is a precedent cited
from the usage of some accepted earlier Ustad. == What he is not to say is nek-o-bad , the fancy Persian words; the whole grammar of the line strongly emphasizes that he's not to make his own pronouncements or value judgments about poets. |
| 112) Enough-- now say nothing further to him, Sauda; be silent, Do speech/poetry [su;xan] with him who would have wisdom and awareness. |
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| 113) If your thought would be of making him ashamed, That's erroneous-- he'll never feel shame. |
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