English
The Seven Trials of Esfandiar
Now from here on I will tell of the Seven Trials,
bringing fresh and brilliant words.
If fortune helps me just once,
my talent will win through and succeed.
I will speak with the support of Shah Mahmud,
of that royal glory and that kingly crown.
May the king of the world live forever,
may the great ones of the earth be his servants.
When the sun showed its face in the sky,
it adorned the face of the earth with love.
When it set the crown on its head in the sign of Aries,
both East and West grew glad.
The mountains filled with the rumble of thunder,
the streams filled with narcissus and tulips.
The tulip bringing allure, the narcissus a warning,
the hyacinth a reproach, the pomegranate blossom its beauty.
The cloud's heart full of fire, its eyes full of tears,
like the wailing of Magi, brimming with the flash of anger.
As it shows fire, it lets the water pour;
at its voice, the head rises from sleep.
When you wake, look at the world:
it is fine silk, as if Mani had painted China itself.
When the world grows bright with the sun,
you see the faces of narcissus and tulip full of dew.
It says to it with a laugh, 'You bold-eyed one,
I weep for love of you, not from pain or anger.'
The earth will not smile until the sky weeps;
but I would not call the sky the king's open hand.
For its rain comes only in spring,
unlike the ceaseless generosity of kings.
The king's hand is like the sun
when it lifts its crown high in Aries.
Whether treasure comes forth from dry earth,
or the sea's water, or pearls and musk,
the sun withholds its light
from neither the poor nor the proud, high-necked king.
The hand of Shah Abol-Qasem, that king,
is just so with the pure and the impure alike.
He never grudges giving anything,
nor does he rest on the day he sets out to act.
When war comes to him, he makes war,
and seizes the heads of kings in his grip.
To the one who submits, he gives his treasure freely,
never thinking of his own hardship.
May Mahmud remain the ruler of the world,
may his giving and his justice endure.
Now, from the old sage who has seen the world,
listen to what he says of the Brazen Fortress and learn.