Number 22

MasnaviIraqi style
English

Number 22

If you have any sense, don't hoard wealth, for it will trample the peace of your mind. Once I had a purse full of silver, and day and night that purse kept me in fear. I threw it away and turned my back on it, and from that endless guarding I found my freedom.
Explanation: The 'purse full of silver' stands for accumulated wealth; the poet frames possessions as a source of anxiety rather than security.

Original · Persian

شمارهٔ ۲۲

اگر هوشمندی مکن جمع مال که جمعیتت را کند پایمال
مرا پیش ازین کیسه پر سیم بود شب و روزم از کیسه پر بیم بود
بیفکندم و روی برتافتم وزان پاسبانی فرج یافتم