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Tuesday 26 December 2023

From dust the Holy God created thee (Door IV.I: Humility) - Saadi Shirazi

From dust the Holy God created thee, 
Servant of God, then, dustlike lowly be, 
From envy, pride, and worldliness abstain, 
Earth is thy origin — be not like flame;

The dreadful fire aloft its crest uprears. 
Helpless and humble, low the earth appears; 
The fire showed pride, the earth humility, 
From that sprung devils, this humanity.

Saadi Shirazi [Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī] (1210 - 1292) Iran
Translated by W.C. Mackinnon
Source: A Few Flowers from the Garden of Sheikh Saadi Shirazi, Translated by W.C. Mackinnon, Thacker, Spink & Co., 1877

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