Hyacinths
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy Soul.
Commentary
(alt. Moslih Eddin Saadi)
from "Gulistan" (The Garden of Roses), 13th century Persian.
Wandering through the Saturday produce and plant market yesterday (one of the many delights of living in Australia) and wondering yet again how these people make a living at this - clearly they’re in it for the entertainment and the social contact, judging from the number of times it’s “Oh, take another on the house” - I got into a conversation with one of the stallholders who was flogging both pentas (a useful thing to plant in these days of drought) and hyacinths.
So I of course wondered if he knew this primary school verse, which I proceeded to recite. (Always a somewhat iffy sort of overture with Australians: they react either with delight or alarm - some sort of lunatic on our hands?) He didn’t; neither did my companion. Can it be that I never trotted it out for our children when they were young enough to be receptive to instead of embarrassed by this sort of thing? But it scored me a couple of free plants. (And reciting Constantine Kavafy’s “Ithaka” had previously got me rather a lot of olives from Greek guy who hails from Ithaca. Perhaps I should take down my shingle and make a living as a minstrel.)
Tracking down the provenance of this well-known verse isn’t easy. Google brings up innumerable plant nursery websites but very little in the way of literary exegesis. It develops that it’s from “The Garden of Roses,” by the 13th century Persian Sufi poet Sa’di. But where does the translation come from? Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Mac Robb.
Brisbane, Australia.
Moslih Eddin (Muslih-un-Din) Saadi (Sa’di), Gulistan (Garden of Roses)
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/S/Sadi/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadi
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Dr Sunil Nivargi · 4 July 2006
Hi Mac, Hi Readers,
Saadi’s Gulistaan was translated by Sir Richard Burton around mid 19 th centutry.Other important epic form compilation by Sa`di ( or Saadi) is The Bostaan [The Orchard ].I’m not sure if that was translated by Sir Richard too.Emerson, an admirer among many in the West, is also known to have translated a few of his poems, perhaps uncompiled verses.
After Khayyam’s time (and of course, before him, Firdausi), Saadi was that medieval Iranian poet-philosopher knwon for his ontologic wisdom and socio-political view. A scholar and wanderer-traveller, Saadi belongs to the great Islamic tradition of Sufism, which blends music to their romantic poetry and spiritual thought, live till this day. I happened to have a a prticularly touchy verse by Saadi in my scarpbook, I am still looking frantically for it, and will be glad to post it here; meanwhile, this again is Saadi-inscribed at the door to the UN Hall of Nations:
Of one Essence is the human race,
thus has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace.
Sunil Nivargi Pune, India.