Eagle
Eagle
By Persian poet: Nasir Khusraw (1004-1088AD)
Translated by Amir H. Ghaseminejad (c) 2016
|
روزي ز سـر سنـگ عقــابي به هـوا خاست
وز بهر طمع بـال وپر خویش بـيــاراست
|
One day an eagle rose to the sky from the top of the boulder.
Motivated by greed, he groomed his feathers.
|
|
بـر راسـتـي بـال نـظــر كـرد و چنـيـن گفـت
امــروز هــمه روي زميـن زيـر پـر مـــاسـت
|
Looking at his rightly arranged feathers, he said,
“Today the whole face of the earth is under my wings.”
|
|
بـــر اوج چـــو پــرواز كـنــــم از نـظــر تـيــز
مـي بـيـنــم اگـر ذرّه اي انـدر تـه دريـاست
|
When I fly at the highest point,
I can see a mere particle at the bottom of the sea;
because of the power of my eyesight.
|
|
گر بر سر خاشاک یکی پشه بجنبد
جنبیدن ان پشه عیان در نظر ماست
|
If a fly wriggles on shavings
Its movements would be clearly seen by my eyes.
|
|
بسیار منی کرد و ز تقدیر نترسید
بنگر که ازین چرخ جفا پیشه چه برخاست
|
Bragged and boasted a lot, and had no fear of holly ordinance.
See, what the cruel spinning wheel dealt out:
|
|
ناگه ز کمین گاه یکی سخت کمانی
تیری زقضا و قدرانداخت براوراست
|
Suddenly, as fate and decree had it,
one strong bowman struck an arrow from an ambush
straight at him.
|
|
بربال عقاب آمد آن تیرجگرسوز
وزابرمراورا بسوی خاک فروکاست
|
The liver-burning arrow landed on the eagle’s wing.
Causing his descent from the cloud to earth.
|
|
گفتا عجبست این که زچوبست و زآهن
این تیزی وتندی وپریدنش کجا خاست
|
He said, “That is a wonder, it’s made of iron and wood,
from where does it get its sharpness, swiftness, and flight?”
|
|
چون نیک نظرکردوپرخویش درآن دید
گفتا زکه نالیم که ازماست که برماست
|
When he looked carefully, he saw his own feather on it, and said:
“About whom can I complain? What came at me, is from me!”
|
|
حجت تو منی را زسر خویش بدر کن
بنگر به عقابی که منی کرد و چه ها خاست
|
The moral is: banish narcissism, or egotism, from your mind
look at the eagle who was arrogant, and what happened.
|
