1Cademy - بخش ۱۱ - گفتار در فضایل سخن و سخنوری و تقریب نظم این منظومه از عیب تکلف بری که نامزد است به خردنامه اسکندری / Section 11 - Discourse on the Virtues of Speech and Eloquence, and the Presentation of the Composition of This Poem—Free from the Fault of Affectation—Which Is Named the Kheradnameh-ye Eskandari (The Book of Alexandrian Wisdom)

Learn Before

Poem

بخش ۱۱ - گفتار در فضایل سخن و سخنوری و تقریب نظم این منظومه از عیب تکلف بری که نامزد است به خردنامه اسکندری / Section 11 - Discourse on the Virtues of Speech and Eloquence, and the Presentation of the Composition of This Poem—Free from the Fault of Affectation—Which Is Named the Kheradnameh-ye Eskandari (The Book of Alexandrian Wisdom)

Original content

سخن ز آسمان ها فرود آمده ست
بر اقلیم جان ها فرود آمده ست

گشاده ز اقلیم جان پر و بال
چو طاووس در جلوه گاه خیال

گهی گشته بر نی چو طفلان سوار
به روم آمده از ره زنگبار

چو عباسیان در عبای سیاه
سواد بصر ساخته جلوه گاه

گهی بادپای نفس زیر ران
برون رانده از رهگذار زبان

فرود آمده زین فضای فراخ
به دهلیزه تنگ کاخ صماخ

ز ذوق قدومش دل تیزهوش
بود دیده بر روزن چشم و گوش

ازان بنگرد جلوه ناز او
وز این بشنود دلکش آواز او

ازان جلوه کون و مکان پر شعاع
وز این نغمه جان و جهان در سماع

بود تابش ماه و مهر از سخن
بود گردش نه سپهر از سخن

دو حرفند از دفترش کاف و نون
به هستی شده نیست را رهنمون

سخن گر نبودی نبودی قلم
به لوح بیان سر نسودی قلم

قلم زوست نالان به چنگ دبیر
نوای طرب زن به لحن صریر

زبان مغنی برون زان صدا
بود چون تنی مانده از جان جدا

تهی زان نوا چنگ و دف نغز نیست
چه حاصل ازان پوست کش مغز نیست ؟

سخن مایه سحر و افسون بود
به تخصیص وقتی که موزون بود

ازان سحر بستم زبان چند بار
وز آن نادر افسون شدم توبه کار

ولیکن چو بود آن مرا در سرشت
نگشت از سرم حرف آن سرنوشت

دگر باره گشتم به آن حرف باز
سخن را به هر صورتی حرفه ساز

زدم عمری از بی مثالان مثل
سرودم به وصف غزالان غزل

قلم وار از سر قدم ساختم
ز مشکین خطان نامه پرداختم

دم از ساده رویان رعنا زدم
غزل را ز مه خیمه بالا زدم

نمودم ره راست عشاق را
ز آوازه پر کردم آفاق را

به قصد قصاید شدم تیز گام
برآمد به نظم معمام نام

ز بیچارگی ها درین چارسوی
به قول رباعی شدم چاره جوی

کنون کرده ام پشت همت قوی
دهم مثنوی را لباس نوی

کهن مثنوی های پیران کار
که مانده ست ازان رفتگان یادگار

اگرچه روان بخش و جان پرور است
در اشعار نو لذت دیگر است

به چندین هنر پیر آراسته ست
ولی نی چو خوبان نوخاسته ست

دل نونیازان کوی امید
خط سبز خواهد ، نه موی سفید

نظامی که استاد این فن ویست
درین بزمگه شمع روشن ویست

ز ویرانه گنجه شد گنج سنج
رسانید گنج گهر را به پنج

چو خسرو به آن پنج هم پنجه شد
وز آن بازوی فکرتش رنجه شد

کفش بود ازان گونه گوهر تهی
دهش ساخت لیک از زر ده دهی

زر از سیم اگر چند برتر بود
بسی کمتر از در و گوهر بود

من مفلس عور دور از هنر
نه در حقه گوهر نه در صره زر

درین کارگاه فسون و فسوس
ز مس ساختم پنج گنج فلوس

من و شرمساری ز ده گنج شان
که این پنج من نیست ده پنج شان

ولی داشت چون زور پایم نوی
زدم گام همت به چابک روی

گشادم به مفتاح عزم درست
در گنج گفتار را وز نخست

ز لب تحفه آوردم احرار را
به کف سبحه بسپردم ابرار را

وز آن پس چو کلک تصرف زدم
رقم بر زلیخا و یوسف زدم

چو طفلان ز نی چون فرس تاختم
به لیلی و مجنون فرس ساختم

چو زین چار شد طبع من کامیاب
کنون آورم رو به پنجم کتاب

به یک سلک خواهم چو گوهر کشید
خردنامه ها کز سکندر رسید

خردنامه زان اختیار من است
که افسانه خوانی نه کار من است

ز اسرار حکمت سخن راندن
به از قصه های کهن خواندن

ز بهرام گورش نراندم سخن
نکشتم به باغ خود آن سرو بن

چو معموره عمر شد خاک تود
ز معماری هفت پیکر چه سود ؟

بر آن بحر یک مثنوی داشتم
که تخم حقایق در او کاشتم

همه نکته های حکیمان دین
حکایات ارباب کشف و یقین

چو این گوهرم بود زان بحر ژرف
مکرر نراندم در آن بحر حرف

سخن گرچه باشد چو آب زلال
ز تکرار خیزد غبار ملال

چو افتاد بی آن به کارم خلل
تلافی ش کردم به نعم البدل

شدم از دگر بحر گوهرفشان
وز آن کردم ابرار را سبحه خوان

دریغا که بگذشت عمر شریف
به جمع قوافی و فکر ردیف

کند قافیه تنگ بر من نفس
ازان چون ردیفم فتد کار پس

نیاید برون حرفی از خامه ام
که نبود سیه رویی نامه ام

چو بر دست نبود شش انگشت خوش
چرا سازم از خامه انگشت شش ؟

ز راه خرد خط چو بیرونی است
به کف خامه انگشت افزونی است

حضور دل از دست دادم به نقد
که بکر سخن را درآرم به عقد

رمید از من آن وین نگردید رام
گرفت آن هوا وین نیامد به دام

کنون می دهد دور چرخم به یاد
به ضرب المثل قصه غوک و خاد

English translation

Speech has descended from the heavens; it has descended upon the realm of souls. Spreading wings and feathers out of the realm of the soul, like a peacock in the display-ground of imagination. Sometimes riding upon a reed like children, coming to Rum from the road of Zanzibar. Like the Abbasids in black cloaks, it has made the blackness of the eye its display-ground. Sometimes with the wind-footed steed of breath beneath its thigh, it has ridden out from the passageway of the tongue. Descending from this wide expanse, into the narrow corridor of the palace of the ear. From delight at its arrival, the sharp-witted heart keeps its gaze upon the window of eye and ear. Through the one it beholds its coquettish display, and through the other it hears its heart-alluring voice. From that display, being and space are full of radiance, and from this melody, soul and world are in ecstasy. The shining of moon and sun is from speech; the turning of the nine spheres is from speech. Kaf and Nun (the command 'Be') are two letters from its book, guiding non-existence toward being. Had there been no speech, there would be no pen; the pen would not have laid its head upon the tablet of expression. From it the pen laments in the scribe's grasp, striking a joyful tune with the melody of its scratching. The singer's tongue, apart from that sound, is like a body left severed from its soul. Empty of that melody, harp and tambourine hold no charm; what gain is there in a skin that has no kernel? Speech is the substance of magic and enchantment, especially at the time when it is measured (in verse). Out of that magic I bound my tongue many times, and from that rare enchantment I turned penitent. But since it lay within my very nature, the word of that destiny did not leave my head. Once again I returned to that word, making speech a craft in every form. For a lifetime I struck parables of the peerless; I sang ghazals in praise of gazelles (fair beauties). Like a pen, from my head I made a foot (I strove hard); of the musk-down-cheeked ones I composed my pages. I spoke of the graceful, smooth-faced ones; I raised the ghazal's tent higher than the moon. I showed the straight path to lovers; I filled the horizons with my fame. With intent I stepped briskly toward qasidas, and my name rose up, honored, in verse. Out of helplessness in this crossroads (marketplace), I sought a remedy in the saying of the ruba'i (quatrain). Now I have made the back of my resolve strong, to give the masnavi a new garment. The old masnavis of the masters of the craft, which have remained as a memento from those departed— though they are soul-giving and life-nourishing, in new poems there is another delight. The old one is adorned with many arts, yet it is not like the newly risen beauties. The heart of the new supplicants at hope's lane desires green down (of youth), not white hair. Nizami, who is the master of this art, is the bright candle of this assembly. Out of the ruins of Ganja he became a weigher of treasure; he brought the treasure of jewels up to five (the Khamsa). When Khusraw (Dehlavi) grappled with those five, and the arm of his thought was pained by it, his hand was empty of that kind of jewel, yet he made his gift of pure, ten-of-ten gold. Though gold is superior to silver, it is far less than pearl and jewel. I—bankrupt, naked, far from art, with neither jewel in the casket nor gold in the purse— in this workshop of enchantment and mockery, out of copper I fashioned five treasures of base coin. And I am ashamed before their ten treasures, for these five of mine are not a tenth of their five. But since my foot had newfound strength, I stepped with resolve, nimbly on my way. With the key of sound determination I opened the treasure-door of speech, and from the first I brought a gift from my lips to the free (Tuhfat al-Ahrar); into the hands of the pious I entrusted a rosary (Subhat al-Abrar). And after that, when I wielded the pen of composition, I inscribed my mark upon Zulaykha and Yusuf. Like children who race a reed as a horse, I made a steed of my verse toward Layli and Majnun. Since my nature was fulfilled by these four, now I turn my face toward the fifth book. On a single thread I wish to string, like pearls, the books of wisdom (Kheradnamehs) that came down from Alexander. The Kheradnameh is my chosen theme, for reciting fables is not my work. To speak of the secrets of wisdom is better than reading old tales. Of his (Nizami's) Bahram Gur I did not speak; I did not plant that cypress-trunk in my own garden. When the edifice of life becomes a mound of dust, what use is the architecture of the Haft Paykar (Seven Beauties)? Upon that sea (meter) I had a masnavi in which I sowed the seeds of truths— all the subtleties of the sages of religion, the tales of the masters of unveiling and certainty. Since I had this jewel already from that deep sea, I did not repeat a word upon that sea (meter). Though speech may be like limpid water, from repetition rises the dust of tedium. Since without it a flaw fell into my work, I made amends for it with an excellent substitute. I became a jewel-scatterer from another sea (meter), and out of it I made the pious recite the rosary (Subhat al-Abrar). Alas that noble life has passed away in gathering rhymes and pondering refrains. The rhyme cramps the breath within me, and so, like a refrain, my work falls behind. No word comes forth from my pen that is not a blackening (disgrace) of my page. Since a sixth finger on the hand is not pleasing, why should I make of the pen a sixth finger? Since a line off the path of wisdom is astray, the pen in the hand is but a superfluous finger. I gave up presence of heart, paid in ready coin, so that I might bring the virgin of speech into wedlock (a verse-knot). That one fled from me, and this one did not grow tame; that one took to the air, and this came not into the snare. Now the turning of my wheel of fortune brings to mind, by way of proverb, the tale of the frog and the khad.

Updated 2026-07-20

Contributors are:

Who are from:

References

Ganjoor

Learn Before

Original content

English translation

Related