Poem

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۴۷ - مانستن بدرایی این وزیر دون در افساد مروت شاه به وزیر فرعون یعنی هامان در افساد قابلیت فرعون / Book Four - Section 47 - The resemblance of the evil counsel of this base vizier in corrupting the king's virtue to Pharaoh's vizier, namely Haman, in corrupting Pharaoh's capacity

Original content

چند آن فرعون می‌شد نرم و رام
چون شنیدی او ز موسی آن کلام

آن کلامی که بدادی سنگ شیر
از خوشی آن کلام بی‌نظیر

چون بهامان که وزیرش بود او
مشورت کردی که کینش بود خو

پس بگفتی تا کنون بودی خدیو
بنده گردی ژنده‌پوشی را بریو

هم‌چو سنگ منجنیقی آمدی
آن سخن بر شیشه خانهٔ او زدی

هر چه صد روز آن کلیم خوش‌خطاب
ساختی در یک‌دم او کردی خراب

عقل تو دستور و مغلوب هواست
در وجودت ره‌زن راه خداست

ناصحی ربانیی پندت دهد
آن سخن را او به فن طرحی نهد

کین نه بر جایست هین از جا مشو
نیست چندان با خود آ شیدا مشو

وای آن شه که وزیرش این بود
جای هر دو دوزخ پر کین بود

شاد آن شاهی که او را دست‌گیر
باشد اندر کار چون آصف وزیر

شاه عادل چون قرین او شود
نام آن نور علی نور این بود

چون سلیمان شاه و چون آصف وزیر
نور بر نورست و عنبر بر عبیر

شاه فرعون و چو هامانش وزیر
هر دو را نبود ز بدبختی گزیر

پس بود ظلمات بعضی فوق بعض
نه خرد یار و نه دولت روز عرض

من ندیدم جز شقاوت در لئام
گر تو دیدستی رسان از من سلام

هم‌چو جان باشد شه و صاحب چو عقل
عقل فاسد روح را آرد بنقل

آن فرشتهٔ عقل چون هاروت شد
سحرآموز دو صد طاغوت شد

عقل جزوی را وزیر خود مگیر
عقل کل را ساز ای سلطان وزیر

مر هوا را تو وزیر خود مساز
که برآید جان پاکت از نماز

کین هوا پر حرص و حالی‌بین بود
عقل را اندیشه یوم دین بود

عقل را دو دیده در پایان کار
بهر آن گل می‌کشد او رنج خار

که نفرساید نریزد در خزان
باد هر خرطوم اخشم دور از آن

English translation

How often did that Pharaoh become soft and tame When he heard from Moses that speech — That speech which would cause stone to yield milk, From the sweetness of that peerless address.

When to Haman, who was his vizier, He would consult — for spite was Haman's nature — He would say: "Until now you were a sovereign lord; Would you become slave to a ragamuffin, in disgrace?"

Like a catapult stone it would come; That word would strike against his house of glass. Whatever the eloquent Kalīm had built in a hundred days, He would destroy in a single instant.

Your intellect is a minister yet conquered by passion; Within your being it is a highwayman on God's road. A divine counselor gives you good counsel, Yet he schemes against that speech with cunning,

Saying: "This is not fitting — beware, do not be disturbed; It is not so much — come to yourself, do not go mad."

Woe to that king whose vizier was such a one; The abode of both is a hell full of rancor.

Blessed is that king whose helper in affairs Is a vizier like Āṣaf. When a just king is paired with such a companion, The name of that is "light upon light."

Like Solomon the king and Āṣaf the vizier — Light upon light, and ambergris upon rose perfume.

The king is Pharaoh and his vizier is like Haman — There is no escape for either of them from wretchedness.

So there are darknesses, some above others; Neither intellect as companion, nor fortune on the Day of Presentation. I have seen nothing but misery in the base; If you have seen otherwise, convey my greetings.

The king is like the soul and the companion like the intellect; A corrupt intellect brings the spirit to ruin. When that angel of intellect became like Hārūt, It became a teacher of sorcery to two hundred tyrants.

Do not take the partial intellect as your vizier; Make the Universal Intellect your vizier, O sultan. Do not make passion your vizier, Lest your pure soul depart from prayer —

For this passion is full of greed and sees only the present, While the intellect's concern is the Day of Judgment. The intellect has both eyes fixed on the end of the matter; For the sake of that rose it endures the pain of the thorn,

So that it may not wither, may not fall in autumn — May the breath of every blunt-nosed one be kept far from it.

0

1

Updated 2026-05-16

Contributors are:

Who are from:

References


Tags

Humanities

Literature

Islam

Religion

Science

Philosophy

Social Science

Persian Literature Prerequisite Course

Related