English
Bahram's Reign of Nineteen Years
When Bahram mourned for Bahramshah,
for forty days he set no crown upon his head.
Many brave and wise men lost their composure,
full of grief, wailing and crying out.
They sat beside him in sorrow and pain,
their cheeks turned yellow, their lips gone blue.
After that the pure-minded high priest came,
urging the king to take his place upon the throne.
For a whole week he pressed him hard,
until at last Bahram sat upon the throne.
When Bahram took his seat on the throne of justice,
he placed the crown on his head in the royal manner.
First he gave praise to the Creator,
the one who lights the turning of the ages.
Who increases knowledge and truth,
and cuts away crookedness and flaw.
The Lord of Saturn and the wheeling sky
wants nothing from his servant but justice and love.
Then he spoke thus: O you who are wise,
world-seeing and pure-hearted priests,
all of you who hold great learning,
do not stand aloof from mighty kings.
The one who reaches for culture and refinement
is the one whose reason is bright and whose humanity is nurtured.
The chief of humanity is patience;
whoever acts in haste brings himself to disgrace.
Whoever found security became happy;
with security, sorrow and hardship blow away like wind.
Richer is the one who keeps a generous heart
and counts hoarding coins as nothing but wind.
If you have nothing, work and earn a little,
for no one values a person with nothing.
Whoever has no means finds no generosity toward him,
nor does anyone hold him in any regard.
When you are content, you live at ease;
but if you nurse greed, you live in fear.
Do not strive for what only brings you suffering,
for greed for treasure twists the soul.
In the affairs of the age, choose the middle way,
if you wish to earn praise through justice.
When you keep the world content through justice,
you stay prosperous and glad in your fairness.
There must be full security and truth;
no flaw should enter into your justice.
When you diminish joy, the soul grows less,
and reason becomes feeble within you.
When his reign reached twenty years,
life wept for the one year short of it.
That crowned king became one with the dust;
from the joyful world, a hidden tomb became his home.
This is the way and custom of the world:
it spares no one its grip of death.
He had a son, joyful and fortunate,
whose name was Bahram of the Bahramians.
He came and sat glad upon the throne,
and placed the royal crown upon his head.
Now I will tell of Bahram of the Bahramians;
listen to it with heart and soul.