Humanity - Sa’dī

A man found in the desert a thirsty dog,
      which from want of drink was at its last gasp.
The worthy man made a bucket of his cap,
      and twisted his muslin sash into a rope;
Then he girded his waist and extended his arms for service,
      and gave to the feeble dog a sup of water.

The Prophet revealed of his future condition,
      that the Supreme Judge had for this act pardoned his sins.
Oh, if thou hast been a hard man, bethink thee;
      learn to be kind, and make beneficence thy business!
If a kindness done to a dog is not
      lost, how should that be which is done to a worthy man?

Do good as you find it offered to your hand;
     the Master of the Universe hath closed against no one the door for doing some good.
To give from your treasury a talent of gold
     is of less worth than a carat bestowed by the hand of labour.
Each one shall bear the burthen proportioned to his strength:
     the foot of a locust would be heavy for an ant.

---

Sa’dī (Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāz) (1210–1292) Iran
Translated by Samuel Robinson from the text of K. H. Graf
From the ‘Garden of Perfume’
Source: Library of World’s Best Literature, an Anthology in Thirty Volumes. Founded by Charles Dudley Warner, Warner Libraray Co., 1917