759. The Reign of Azarmdokht
EnglishAnother daughter, Azarmdokht by name,
came to power, crowned among the great.
She came and sat upon the royal throne,
and took this world firmly into her hands.
First she said: 'O wise ones,
you who have seen the world and mastered its affairs,
Let us run everything by justice and by law,
so that from now on even a brick can be our pillow.
Whoever holds me dear as a friend,
to that person I will be like a protector.
But anyone who breaks his pledge to me,
and turns away from custom and the path of reason,
I will string his body up in disgrace,
be he Persian, Arab, or Roman, no matter which.'
She stayed upon the throne for four months;
in the fifth, her reign came crashing down.
Through Azarm the world grew without honor,
and the course of her fortune slipped away.
She too passed on, and the throne was left kingless,
leaving the malicious to get what they wished.
This is the way of the turning wheel of fate:
full of spite toward the very ones it raised.
Original
پادشاهی آزرم دخت
یکی دخت دیگر بد آزرم نام
ز تاج بزرگان رسیده به کام
بیامد به تخت کیان برنشست
گرفت این جهان جهان را به دست
نخستین چنین گفت کای بخردان
جهان گشته و کار کرده ردان
همه کار بر داد و آیین کنیم
کزین پس همه خشت بالین کنیم
هر آنکس که باشد مرا دوستدار
چنانم مر او را چو پروردگار
کس کو ز پیمان من بگذرد
بپیچید ز آیین و راه خرد
به خواری تنش را برآرم بدار
ز دهقان و تازی و رومی شمار
همی‌بود بر تخت بر چار ماه
به پنجم شکست اندر آمد به گاه
از آزرم گیتی بی‌آزرم گشت
پی اختر رفتنش نرم گشت
شد اونیز و آن تخت بی‌شاه ماند
به کام دل مرد بدخواه ماند
همه کار گردنده چرخ این بود
ز پروردهٔ خویش پرکین بود