English
Elegy for Atabak Abu Bakr ibn Sa'd Zangi
By this event I've learned: never give your heart to anyone again, given the sorrow this occasion has brought.
When the moon of Abu Bakr Sa'd's fortune set, the rising star of his own son's fortune was still fading too.
The hope of safety and well-being kept whispering in the heart's ear: long live the fortune of Abu Bakr, son of Sa'd Zangi.
The first wound had not yet fully healed when the cruel hand of time branded him with another.
Not the kind of grief that ever leaves the heart, not the kind of story that ever slips from memory.
The kingdom is a beautiful bride, but this fickle-hearted one keeps no faith with her groom.
It is not only Solomon's throne that went with the wind: wherever there is a throne, it too blows away.
It is the people who change; otherwise the earth is still the same realm of Kaykhosrow, Tur, and Qobad.
We have heard that the world befriends everyone; but no one says it ever kept its promise to a single soul.
Like a child it played with all and betrayed all; stranger still, not one of them grew wise from it.
Given such betrayal, I do not know why the kingdom is sweet; but what use is that, when Farhad carves only into stone?
They came from their mothers with no treasure, kingdom, or retinue, and they leave just as bare as the day they were born.
May the pure God, in His grace and generosity, forgive the pure soul of Abu Bakr, son of Sa'd Zangi.
He built up all his dwelling in the resting place of the hereafter, for this world's foundation cannot be trusted to last.
If a man does not sow his seed in the sowing season, at harvest time he will be a beggar at other people's fields.
There is hope that the night of the grave will be bright for him, since he sent his lamp of good deeds on ahead.
On the day of reckoning may God, mighty and glorious, reward him well, for he dealt justly and did good.
Whatever he did in fairness, he did to his own benefit; measure by the same rule, then, one who acts unjustly.
People rule wrongly and imagine that a decree will always keep its force.
A thousand kingly fortunes and lordships are slaves to humble servitude and a neck kept free of sin.
If the tears of the people of Shiraz were joined together, they would flow like the Tigris through Baghdad.
But what use is wailing against the turning of the age? Those who truly know have never cried out against fate.
If the autumn wind has scattered one blossoming rosebush, may the swaying cypress endure, and the shade of the boxwood live on.
Still the face of safety turns toward the land; still the back of good fortune rests upon the throne.
The crown of power and might is not won by strength of arm; destiny can grant a seven-year-old what it denies a seventy-year-old.
Great and small bow their heads in obedience to him, in that tribe where even the young are noble in nature.
The moon has set and a second dawn has filled the world; his life has ended, may your own life be long.
You will prosper if you heed your servant's counsel, for whoever ignored these words never won the world.
Listen to the same advice I gave your grandfather: I will not remain, but my words will stay in your memory.
Do not needlessly ruin an innocent heart, if you want your house and kingdom to flourish for years.