Venice masks

Thursday 13 July 2023

Generosity - Rudaki

You killed many, broke the enemy’s courage.
You gave so much, there isn’t one beggar left.
Many have lamb and sweets on their table,
Others, not enough bread to ease their hunger.
Take action. Don’t sit idle for too long,
Even though your sacks of gold reach the moon. 

Rudaki (Abū 'Abd Allāh Ja'far ibn Muḥammad al-Rūdhakī) (858 - 941) Tajikstan
Translated by Sassan Tabatabai
Source: Project Muse from the book Father of Persian Verse Rudaki and his Poetry by Sassan Tabatabai, Published by Leiden University Press, 2010 (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please keep your comments relevant and free from abusive language. Thank you. Note that comments are moderated so it may be a day or two before your comment is posted - irrelevant or abusive comments will not be published.